A former newspaper publisher who was highly involved in community service in the Santa Maria Valley was remembered at the end of the Santa Maria City Council meeting Tuesday night.
Cynthia Schur, 65, former Santa Maria Times publisher, died July 12 after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Before adjourning the council meeting, Mayor Alice Patino noted the loss of “a woman that was very very special to so many of us in the valley — Cynthia Schur.
“When Cynthia took over the newspaper here, I think we saw a big change. It was about the community. She was very involved in the community. She loved Santa Maria and did so much to contribute to that,” Patino said.
She also noted the Schur’s role in having the newspaper support Day of Hope, a Dignity Health effort to raise funds for patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center, with this year’s event, the ninth, set for Aug. 17.
Patino said Schur was “all in on that,” at a time when other communities’ newspapers did not support similar efforts.
“She was such great leader for women in our community, and we know we’ll miss her — very, very wonderful woman,” the mayor added.
Allan Hancock College leaders remembered Schur’s support in the launch of the Hancock Promise program to provide free tuition for recent high school graduates in the Santa Maria, Lompoc, Santa Ynez and Cuyama valleys.
“We’ll miss her impact in the community and her sharp wit,” said Jon Hooten, executive director of college advancement at AHC. “She was one of a kind.”
Schur served for 16 years as publisher for the Santa Maria Times and its local sister papers, arriving in 2003 after a time of turmoil among the company’s leadership, and becoming the first woman to helm the paper on a permanent basis.
She had previously worked in advertising sales in Orange County and then led The Garden Island newpaper in Kauai, Hawaii, as president and publisher from 1998 to 2003.
After leaving the newspaper business in late 2019, Schur later was named a marketing representative for S.Lombardi & Associates in San Luis Obispo.
For approximately 14 years, Schur served on the California News Publishers Association board of directors.
She had been involved in community service, serving on the boards of the Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation, the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, the Allan Hancock College Foundation and Domestic Violence Solutions.
Schur was active in the Santa Maria Noontime Rotary Club, and served as president from 2019 to 2020. She went on to serve as area governor for the local Rotary District.
Funeral arrangements were pending, with arrangements being handled by the Dudley-Hoffman Mortuary.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.