William Penn "Bill" Frank Interview

William Penn "Bill" Frank Interview

William Penn Frank (October 16, 1905-August 21, 1989)

William Penn “Bill” Frank was born on October 16, 1905 in Brooklyn, New York. Following the death of his father, his mother remarried and the family moved to Wilmington, Delaware in 1911. He adopted the middle name “Penn” to cement his identity as a Delawarean. Frank was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household and remained a scholar of Judaica throughout his life. He frequently wrote for the Jewish Voice and helped found the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware.
Frank was a journalist and editor, and spent most of his career with the Wilmington Morning News, which later merged with the Wilmington News Journal. He graduated from Wilmington High School in 1923 and began working for the Morning News the same year. After a brief stint as the news director for the radio station WILM, Frank returned to the Wilmington Morning News in 1949. However, he continued to work as a radio commentator for the rest of his life. In his public and private life, he campaigned against the death penalty, poor treatment of the mentally ill, and segregation. At the time of his death in 1989, he was columnist emeritus at the Wilmington News Journal. That year, he received a lifetime award from the Delaware Council on Crime and Justice and the Delaware Bar Association’s Liberty Award. The News Journal also named their conference center in his honor.

Jewish Historical Society of Delaware

March 22, 1979

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William P. Frank

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