Lawrence W. Hager

Lawrence White Hager Sr. (May 28, 1890 – December 25, 1982) was an American newspaper publisher, broadcasting executive. He served as director of the Southern Newspapers Association (1947–1950), Owensboro Publishing Company, and the Kentucky Broadcasting Company, president, owner, and operator of WOMI radio station, president of the Kentucky Press Association, and owner of the Messenger-Inquirer. Hager died in 1982.

Hager founded several clubs in Owensboro. He founded the Owensboro Rotary Club in 1915, the city's first civic club for men. He also founded the Goodfellows club in 1916, which provided gifts and clothing for disadvantaged children.

Biography Lawrence White Hager was born on May 28, 1890, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Samuel Wilber Hager and Elizabeth "Bessie" Woods White. His father served as Kentucky State Treasurer and auditor between 1900 and 1908. His mother was a member of the White family, a wealthy and politically influential family in Kentucky. Through his mother he was related to John D. White, Addison White, and Hugh Lawson White, all of whom served in U.S. congress. He earned a Master of Arts and graduated cum laude and salutatorian from Centre College in 1909. While still enrolled in college, he got his first job as a reporter for The State Journal in Frankfort during the summer of 1908. In 1910, He was offered a scholarship to Harvard Law School, but declined, instead deciding to join his father at the Messenger-Inquirer in Owensboro. In 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I, and was an artillery officer in France until the end of the war. On December 27, 1918, Hagers father died, a short time before he would return from France. When he returned, he became editor of the Messenger-Inquirer. On June 5, 1921, he married Martha Augusta Brown. He and Martha had two children, Lawrence W. Jr. and John S. Hager.