Greenspun, Barbara

Barbara Ritchie Greenspun (1922-2010) was the co-founder of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper with her husband Hank Greenspun. The Greenspuns bought the Free Press newspaper in 1949 and renamed it the Las Vegas Sun. Barbara Greenspun helped her husband grow the Sun and expand the family business into what is today the Greenspun Media Group, now owned by their son Brian Greenspun. Barbara served as the paper's treasurer until the late 1980s when Hank was diagnosed with cancer and he appointed her co-publisher. After his death in 1989 she became publisher of the Sun, and continued in that role until her own death in 2010. She was inducted into the Nevada Press Association's Hall of Fame in 2004.

Barbara Greenspun was born Barbara Joan Ritchie in London, England on February 17, 1922. She was raised in Ireland and met Hank Greenspun during World War II. They were married in 1944. She moved to Las Vegas in the late 1940s and helped Hank found and edit his first local publication, Las Vegas Life magazine. Barbara was Hank's partner in his many business ventures, including American Nevada Company, which developed the Green Valley master-planned community in Henderson, Nevada.

Barbara Greenspun was also known as a generous philanthropist and community leader in Las Vegas. She served on the national board of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, was a life member of Hadassah, and was also a member of Congregation Ner Tamid in Las Vegas. In 2005 she received the Anti-Defamation League's Americanism Award for her activism supporting the preservation of Israel. She was a member of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Foundation Board and co-founded UNLV's Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, which now includes the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies. Her other civic and philanthropic leadership roles include founding member of the Las Vegas Sun Summer Camp Fund, member of the Clark County Juvenile Board, and director of the Greenspun Family Foundation.