A native of Kansas, Edward King Gaylord moved to Oklahoma Territory in 1903 from Colorado, where he began his publishing career. Alongside two partners, he established the Oklahoma Publishing Company, which published The Daily Oklahoman — the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma.
He was also very active in civic matters, leading the drives for Oklahoma statehood and relocation of the capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. During the mid-1950s, Mr. Gaylord and other Oklahoma business leaders established the Frontiers of Science Foundation to improve and promote science education in schools. For more than 50 years, the foundation sponsored lectures, testing and symposiums for thousands of Oklahoma children and educators.
One of Mr. Gaylord's greatest values was education. He understood that an education could make a real difference in a person's life. As owner of the Daily Oklahoman, he provided scholarships for the newspaper carriers and often lent his considerable influence to education projects.
To ensure his support of education would continue, in 1970, Mr. Gaylord established the Edward King Gaylord Scholarship, the first scholarship fund established at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. Mr. Gaylord died in 1974 at the age of 101. A gift from his estate further funded the scholarship that supports awards made through our Trustee Scholarship Initiative and the Oklahoma Youth with Promise Scholarship Program.