Bayley arrived at UC Berkeley in 1969, appointed as professor
and dean of the campus's new Graduate School of Journalism.
At the time, the study of journalism at UC Berkeley had
been revived from a struggling undergraduate major to a
graduate journalism program that would become one of the
top three in the country.
During Bayley's deanship, the school grew from a faculty
of seven to 12, and from 50 to 75 graduate students. Four
years before Bayley retired, an accreditation team for the
American Council on Education for Journalism said the school
had the strongest journalism faculty in the United States.
Despite his administrative duties as dean, Bayley insisted
on teaching basic news and introductory political reporting
classes.
"He really kept a finger on the pulse of students and what
was going on. He was also a very gentle critic," said Andrew
Stern, who was a friend and colleague of Bayley's. Bayley
convinced Stern to leave network television and part-time
teaching at Columbia University to introduce broadcast news
to the UC Berkeley journalism program.
Harvey Myman, a former student of Bayley's who became vice
president of HBO after an extensive career working for newspapers,
said Bayley was an inspiration.
"He was a completely remarkable guy. He was maybe the most
pure reporter I ever met, certainly the best editor," said
Myman, who stayed in close touch with Bayley through the
years. "He always had this great, dispassionate, keen eye,
and there was a cleanliness to his prose."
UC Berkeley professor emeritus David Littlejohn, on the
journalism faculty when Bayley began, called him "profoundly
dedicated to the school."
Bayley guided the school for slightly more than 16 years.
In his first year, he abolished courses such as public relations
and changed the length of the degree program from one year
to two. He emphasized specialized writing classes, invited
professional journalists to teach, and instituted the Summer
Program for Minority Journalists at UC Berkeley.
In 1985, Bayley received the Berkeley Citation, the highest
honor awarded by UC Berkeley. Earlier that year, the Institute
for Journalism Education cited his "service to the progress
of minorities in journalism."
Bayley received in 1986 the Alumni Distinguished Service
award from Lawrence University for his service to journalism.
Lawrence University also conferred upon him an honorary
doctorate, citing his service to journalism and to graduate
education.
He retired in 1985 from UC Berkeley, but continued to lecture,
write and be a worldwide consultant about journalism.
Bayley was born Aug. 24, 1918, in Chicago, Ill. He attended
public schools in Wisconsin. In 1940, he received a bachelor's
degree in English literature, cum laude with departmental
honors, from Lawrence College (now Lawrence University)
in Appleton, Wis. He worked for the campus newspaper, was
the founding editor of the campus literary magazine, and
twice won prizes for poetry.
He attended the Yale University graduate school in 1940
and 1941, working toward a Ph.D. in English. Bayley married
college classmate Monica Worsley in 1941.
He went on to work for the Green Bay (Wis.) Press-Gazette
in 1941 and 1942 before being commissioned an ensign in
the United States Naval Reserve. He was on active duty as
an armed guard officer on merchant ships in the North Atlantic
and the Mediterranean and as the gunnery officer in the
central Pacific.
After World War II, Bayley was hired by the Milwaukee Journal
and soon was assigned to City Hall. He became the paper's
chief political reporter, covering the Wisconsin Legislature
and local, state and national political campaigns and conventions,
including the presidential campaigns of 1948, 1952 and 1956.
He wrote 14 articles exposing secrecy in state and local
governments in Wisconsin. His series won a citation in 1985
from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and was submitted
by the Journal for the Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public
service.
He won an International Press Institute fellowship in 1959
for the study about the British press and worked as a staff
member of the (London) Daily Mail, the Manchester Guardian
and the Glasgow Herald. He also wrote about British politics
and culture for the Milwaukee Journal.
Bayley also was the Wisconsin correspondent for the Washington
Post, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Philadelphia
Bulletin, Louisville Courier-Journal, Nashville Tennessean,
Kansas City Star, Chicago Sun-Times, Time magazine, The
New Republic and The Economist of London.
He left the Milwaukee Journal later in 1959 to become executive
secretary to Gov. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, serving as
chief of staff and speechwriter. Two years later, Bayley
was appointed the first public information officer for the
Peace Corps.
In 1961, he was appointed a special assistant representing
President Kennedy on inter-departmental committees involving
information and the hiring of minorities. In that post,
he wrote speeches and did research for presidential meetings
with newspaper editors and publishers. He occasionally traveled
with Kennedy as acting press secretary.
Bayley accepted an appointment in 1961 as director of public
affairs for the State Department's Agency for International
Development (AID).
He was appointed editor of public affairs programming for
National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor of
the Public Broadcasting Service, in January 1964. He was
promoted a short time later to vice president for administration,
responsible for NET's general management, then took a leave
of absence to direct media relations for the planning session
for the White House Conference on Civil Rights.
Bayley's book, "Joe McCarthy and the Press," (University
of Wisconsin Press, 1981) won the George Polk Award and
the Frank Luther Mott award for research in journalism.
It also was a finalist in the competition for the National
Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the book, Bayley combed
news archives, interviewed 40 reporters and McCarthy associates
and evaluated the coverage of 131 newspapers nationwide.
Bayley concluded that newspapers could have hastened McCarthy's
downfall if they had better appreciated their influence
and found the courage to speak out against him.
Once, when Bayley was covering a McCarthy rally for the
Milwaukee Journal, the senator spotted Bayley and introduced
him to to the crowd. McCarthy said, "Stand up, Ed, and let
the people see what a communist looks like."
Bayley's second book, "Ask Harvey, Pls," a memoir of a
curmudgeonly city editor of the Milwaukee Journal, was published
in paperback in 1994 (White Oak Press, Madison,Wis.).
Friends said he was an expert tennis player, an avid gardener
and loved music. He also was a voracious reader of fiction
and non-fiction and used to work The New York Times' daily
crossword puzzle with his wife, who died earlier this year.
Myman said Bayley remained intensely interested in news
of the day. "This guy was always searching for information
and truth," he said.
After his retirement in 1985, the Bayleys divided their
time between a home in London, England, a 90-acre farm and
log cabin in Door County, Wis., and Carmel, Calif., where
they were active in community affairs.
Survivors include his daughter, Mary Fisk of The Hague,
Netherlands; son, Thomas Bayley of Madison, Wis.; granddaughter,
Rebekah Fisk of New York, New York; and sister, Lois Matthews
of New Zealand.
A memorial service is pending.
