Mark Pearson (journalist)
Mark Robert Pearson (September 8, 1957 – June 3, 2012) was an American television and radio personality specializing in agriculture-related journalism. He was host of Iowa Public Television's syndicated television show Market to Market and co-host of a program about agricultural news on 50,000 watt clear channel radio station WHO-AM. He also anchored Iowa Public Television's Iowa State Fair coverage for more than 10 years, taking over for Bill Riley.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Mark Robert Person was born September 8, 1957, in Lafayette, Indiana, the son of June and Robert Pearson.[1] The family subsequently moved to Naperville, Illinois, where Pearson attended public schools, graduating from Naperville Central High School in 1975.[1] Pearson then enrolled at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, as a journalism major, graduating there in 1979.[1]
Career[edit]
After meeting his wife and marrying during his college years, Pearson returned to the Midwest, taking a position with Des Moines, Iowa, radio station WHO-AM, where he worked in the station's farm department.[1] Pearson would become a specialist in agricultural journalism and would soon earn the top honor in the field, receiving the DeKalb Oscar in 1980.[1]
Pearson also worked in print journalism as the markets editor for Successful Farming magazine.[1] Pearson served for a time during the early 1980s as assistant secretary of the Iowa Department of Agriculture.[2]
In 1985, Pearson left Iowa to take a position as Director of Agricultural Programming for Minnesota Public Radio, coordinating farm programing to a group of about fifty stations in Minnesota and Iowa.[1] He also entered the United States Naval Reserves the following year, working as a Military Intelligence officer, eventually attaining the rank of lieutenant commander.[1]
Pearson returned to Iowa in 1988, buying a small farm at Thayer and taking a position as Director of Agricultural Planning and Development at Southwestern Community College in Creston, where he worked with farmers of the region helping to improve their agricultural operations.[1]
In 1991, Pearson took over as host of Iowa Public Television's Market to Market program, a popular syndicated series.[1] He would also anchor IPT's coverage of the Iowa State Fair for more than a decade, taking over for Bill Riley, and would work as a public speaker, delivering talks to a wide range of organizations on agricultural themes.
Pearson and his family moved to East Peru, Iowa, in 1995, where they began a new grain and livestock farm, which grew into a substantial operation.[1] Pearson would remain a resident of East Peru for the rest of his life.
Death and legacy[edit]
Mark Pearson died June 2, 2012, at a farm in rural Madison County, Iowa, the victim of an apparent heart attack.[2] He was 54 years old at the time of his death.
In July 2012, Iowa Public television chose Mark Pearson's son, Mike Pearson, manager of the family farm and himself a reporter for Iowa Public Radio Station WOI-AM as the new host of the Market to Market program.[2]
Footnotes[edit]
External links[edit]
- "Iowa State Fair's Mark Pearson Tribute," Iowa Public Television, August 14, 2012. —Video
- "Ag Keynote Speaker Mark Pearson," Convention Connection, 2009. —Video
- Cindy Zimmerman, "Interview with Mark Pearson," AgWired, June 4, 2012. —Audio
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