A man whose influence reaches from Oklahoma to Nashville is being remembered today after his death from cancer complications Sunday night at the Oklahoma Medical Center. Edward L. Gaylord, the former editor and publisher of The Daily Oklahoman, was 83.
Gaylord will be remembered by OU students forever from the bearing of his name on the OU stadium and the new journalism building and college.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
OU President David L. Boren found out about his friend's death last night from Gaylord's daughter, Christy Everest, who is now the head of the Oklahoma Publishing Company Everest is also an OU Regent.
"Ed Gaylord was the quintessential Oklahoman," Boren said. "He was one of the greatest philanthropists in the history of Oklahoma, and historians will write of the great contributions he made to his native state."
The Gaylord name stretches beyond the OU campus and the Oklahoma Publishing Company to famous developments such as the Grand Ole Opry, Opryland Hotel and the Wildhorse Saloon.
Gaylord Entertainment found through public relations research that the Gaylord name connoted upscale excellence, so the company added the name Gaylord to Opryland Resort and Convention Center, said Jim Brown, director of communications for Gaylord Entertainment.
OU has benefited greatly from the gifts of the Gaylord family beginning in April 2000 with a $22 million donation to upgrade the journalism school to college status and build a new high tech facility.
Boren spoke highly of his friend three weeks ago at the groundbreaking for the Gaylord Hall. Gaylord was not able to make the event, but his daughter spoke on his behalf. Boren said Gaylord had urged him to leave the U.S. Senate and return to Oklahoma to become OU's president.
Boren joked that perhaps he just wanted to remove a Democrat from office, but he said Gaylord promised to help him if he came home.
"Little did I know what help would mean," Boren said.
Gaylord's gifts, some announced and others anonymous, have totaled $50 million, Boren said.
"He loves this university," Boren said. "He loves it because he understands its role in the state."
Then, in September 2002, Gaylord donated $12 million so OU could complete stadium construction on a $75 million expansion project. The OU Board of Regents voted to change the name of the stadium to Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, in honor of the largest gift in the history of OU athletics.
Students have benefited through professorships and scholarships donated by Gaylord, and a new memorial will honor OU students who lost their lives in war. Other areas of campus have benefited from Gaylord's generosity such as Bizzell Memorial Library, Sarkeys Energy Center, the Children's Hospital and landscaping at the Health Sciences Center.
Gaylord earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford and a master's degree from Harvard. He served in World War II and took over the family business as the head of The Oklahoman after his father's death in 1974. In 1983, he purchased the Opryland complex in Nashville which included The Nashville Network and Country Music Television, among others.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said he joined Oklahoma in mourning the loss of a gracious friend.
"Ed Gaylord was an incredibly modest man with an enormous amount of influence -- an influence he used for the good, consistently."
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