Alex Adwan, former Tulsa World editorial pages editor, dies at 94 (2024)

Alex Adwan, an award-winning Oklahoma journalist and former editor of the Tulsa World’s editorial pages, died Saturday, June 15, in Edmond. He was 94.

A memorial service will be held in Tulsa at 2 p.m. June 26 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Swearingen Funeral Home in Seminole is in charge of arrangements.

Adwan, a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, enjoyed a 40-year relationship with the World.

He joined the paper initially as its Washington, D.C., correspondent in 1967, before returning to the Tulsa office as an editorial writer.

Adwan was named the World’s editorial pages editor, overseeing all opinion content, in 1981. Just the second since World War II to fill the role, he retired from it in 1994 but continued writing as a weekly columnist for more than a decade.

In a 2010 Voices of Oklahoma interview, Adwan talked about both the opportunity and the responsibility that came with being the editorial voice of the Tulsa World and the contributions he made in helping shape public opinion.

“One of the things that I tried to keep in mind is that I do have that privilege, and that’s what it is,” Adwan said. “It’s a right, but that’s a legal term — a ‘right.’ It’s really a privilege because not everybody has the … voice that the Tulsa World offers. It’s a privilege. And I’ve always tried to keep that in mind.”

A native of Maud, Adwan grew up in Seminole.

His interest in journalism would develop while he was a student at Oklahoma Military Academy in Claremore, where he served as editor of the academy newspaper and yearbook.

After earning a journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma, his career was interrupted in 1950 by world events. With the start of the Korean War, Adwan, an Army second lieutenant, commanded a tank platoon, in which role he was awarded a Bronze Star with V device, recognizing valor in combat.

Before the World, Adwan worked at various Oklahoma small daily newspapers. He came to Tulsa as United Press International’s Tulsa bureau manager, later heading UPI operations in Houston and Oklahoma City.

While in Houston with the UPI, he made what would be some of his favorite career memories, reporting on the early days of the U.S. space race, including the first orbital space flights.

Adwan’s apex careerwise, though, would come later at the Tulsa World, when he succeeded the legendary Walter Biscup as chief of its editorial pages.

Adwan helped set the paper’s position on the key issues of the day, tops among them public education.

Education “is local, and because it’s so important at this level, I’d say (it’s) the No. 1 thing,” Adwan said. “It’s one of the essentials and … needs to be supported.”

Memorably for Adwan, that included Oklahoma House Bill 1017, known as the Education Reform Act of 1990. He published a number of editorials in support of the landmark legislation, which ultimately won passage and would fund a broad range of education initiatives.

For the entirety of his tenure as editor, Adwan’s right-hand man was editorial writer Ken Neal, who eventually would succeed him as editor.

Working as Adwan’s “loyal lieutenant” for 13 years, Neal grew to think of him as family.

“We were like brothers. We got to where we could finish each other’s sentences after a while,” Neal said.

As an opinion-writer, Adwan’s opinions were formed from careful and thorough consideration.

“He was a hard guy to argue with,” Neal said. “He was so gentle and so damn thoughtful, for one, but he also had all the facts. No one knew more about an issue or subject than Alex.”

A student of history and human nature, “he also had a way of whenever he was writing an editorial or a column of putting himself in the other fellow’s place and staying nonjudgmental — something that’s so badly missing today,” Neal said.

After handing the reins to Neal in 1994, Adwan continued writing, turning out a weekly personal column for over a decade.

Often, with the latter, his focus was war. Adwan, who was named after an uncle who was killed in World War I, was well-read on the subject, with a special expertise on the Civil War, both World Wars and his own war in Korea.

Adwan’s honors were many. He was an OU School of Journalism Distinguished Alumnus, a Tulsa Press Club Media Icon and a member of the Oklahoma Military Academy Hall of Fame.

He was named to the state Journalism Hall of Fame in 1991 and was also a recipient of the Oklahoma Press Association’s Beachy Musselman Award for his contributions to the field.

Adwan had a special passion for the U.S. Constitution, and in 2001 he was honored with Rogers State University’s Constitution Award for championing constitutional principles.

Survivors include his wife, Teresa Adwan; a sister, Elizabeth Robertson; nephews Rob and Bruce Robertson; and a host of great nieces and nephews.

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