Kent Ford lives in Columbia, Missouri, with his wife, Sharon. Both are retired, he from Missouri Press Association in 2014, she from Boone Hospital Center a year later. Mr. Ford grew up in Central Iowa. He attended the Missouri School of Journalism after serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He received a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1974, then worked at daily newspapers in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. He and his wife bought a small weekly newspaper in Northwest Missouri that they published for six years. Mr. Ford became the editor for the state's newspaper trade organization in Columbia, Missouri Press Association, in 1989. The Fords have two children and six grandchildren.
