When Gary Larkin joined Westfair Communications Inc. on Sept. 16 as editor of the Fairfield County Business Journal, he was immediately thrown into the thick of things, impressing the Westfair team and its readers with his considerable skills and energy.
Now he’s adding a new role as president of the Connecticut Press Club, which hosted its annual Communications Contest awards yesterday — Wednesday, May 21. (See sidebar for the complete list of winners.) Named to the post May 1, Larkin succeeds Michele Turk, who is stepping down after 10 years as president of the club – a 60-member nonprofit that covers a wide swath of the communications field, including publicists and authors as well as journalists. It is affiliated with the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), a group that includes men as well as women.
Larkin brings to the organization an unusual business news pedigree, having held leadership positions behind the news desk as well as at some of the nation’s biggest accounting firms and think tanks for more than 20 years. He was editor in chief of the Hartford Business Journal and the Darien News-Review, managing editor of The Bond Buyer and The Westport News and the night managing editor of the New Britain Herald and Bristol Press. He left journalism in 2004 to lead corporate governance research efforts at KPMG, PwC and The Conference Board, returning after Covid.
“Having been a recovering journalist since returning to newspapers and online business and daily publications following Covid, I am grateful to have the opportunity to lead the Connecticut Press Club at this important time in our industry’s and country’s history.
“As the new president, I plan on …taking the club to the next level. I want to provide both networking and educational opportunities to all communications professionals….”
Larkin assumes the club’s leadership at a time when journalism – the only profession mentioned in the U.S. Constitution – is under attack at home and abroad. In his first meeting with professionals, Pope Leo XIV urged the 6,000 journalists in Rome to cover his election to the Holy See on Thursday, May 8, to report news fairly without aggressive language. But he also said that he stood in solidarity with journalists imperiled and imprisoned for adhering to their roles as pillars of freedom and democracy throughout the world:
“The church recognizes in these witnesses – I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives – the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices,” he said.
Taking heart from those words, Larkin said he sees the role of the press club as that of advocate for journalism.
“As journalists, we don’t cower,” he said. “We tell the truth.”
The press club president is also in charge of finances, with the $35 annual dues enabling members to attend speaking and networking events.
Larkin has been in love with journalism since at least his high school days in Brentwood, Long Island. There he edited the newsletter for the Brentwood Youth Development Corp. at a time when mimeograph machines were the latest in technology. He graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a concentration in journalism. That led to an internship at The Legislative Gazette in Albany where he met his wife, Fran Silverman, assistant communications director for the Yale School of the Environment. The Fairfield County couple have three children.
As he recruits new members and delves into new initiatives, Larkin said he is looking to the next generation, who will be at the forefront of the confrontation with AI and other developments in the continuing tech revolution:
“I also plan on reaching out to college students who are interested in a communications career to get their perspective and give them the chance to learn from our members.”
