William Edmund Scripps

William Edmund Scripps (May 6, 1882 – June 12, 1952) was a pioneer aviator and the publisher of The Detroit News. He was also an original founder of the WWJ radio station. Biography He was born on May 6, 1882, to James E. Scripps, the founder of Detroit’s Evening News. His uncle (father's half-brother) Edward W. Scripps, founded the E.W. Scripps Company; and his aunt (father's half-sister), Ellen Browning Scripps, was a noted philanthropist. He was a great uncle to Samuel H. Scripps. His brother-in-law, George Gough Booth, worked alongside him in the newspaper and radio industry. His nephew (George's son) was James Scripps Booth, an artist and automotive engineer. Scripps married Nina Amenda Downey and had four children. A one-room schoolhouse on the family property was named for his wife. When his son James Edmund II died of appendicitis in 1925 at 22, an oil painting was donated to the Detroit Art Museum in his memory by his wife in 1954. The painting is "The Nut Gatherers" by William Adolphe Bourguereau. He died on June 12, 1952, from a respiratory illness.