As a young boy in Oklahoma, Times publisher L. Alan Cruikshank went on nights and weekends with his father when he worked at The Daily Oklahoman daily newspaper and later the Oklahoma City Journal.

After the Journal went out of business, the family moved to Arizona where his father went to work for The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette.

Upon graduation from West Phoenix High School, Cruikshank received a scholarship from the Central Newspapers Foundation. He attended Arizona State University where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising with minors in Journalism and Art.

His first job was with a Scottsdale, Ariz. advertising agency. He worked as a copywriter on the firm’s largest account, McCulloch Properties. The company developed new communities in various locations across the western United States. One of their developments was Fountain Hills,

Being raised in a newspaper family, he got the idea of starting a newspaper in the new community. He left the ad agency in December 1973, started Western States Publishers in March 1974 and published the first edition of his weekly Fountain Hills Times in June 1974.

The newspaper has won numerous awards from the Arizona Newspapers Association and the National Newspaper Association.

The walls of his office contain a variety of personal awards he has received in his 40 years of working and living in Fountain Hills. Western States Publishers is a charter member of the Fountain Hills Chamber. He was the Chamber’s first three-term president (1983-85), initiated the Ambassadors and chaired the Chamber’s Economic Development Committee for five years after stepping down from its board.

He also served on the Town of Fountain Hills’ economic development council under Mayors John Cutillo and Jerry Miles. He chaired the 1985 White Castle hamburger event during which 176,000 of the sliders were sold in one weekend at Fountain Park. He initiated the Trade Show that evolved into the Business Showcase. He assisted E. J. Goodwin in organizing the first Thanksgiving Day Parade.

An active fund-raiser, he chaired the Fountain Hills Jail-a-thon for the American Cancer Society. He co-chaired the community’s first Town Hall meeting in the mid 1980s from which decisions were made to proceed with incorporation and build a high school.

He served on the founding boards of the Sunridge Foundation, the Fountain Hills Historical Society, the Fountain Hills Community Theater and the Fountain Hills Merchants Association that later became a part of the Chamber. Other boards he has served on are the Noon Kiwanis Club, Fountain Hills Little League and the River of Time Museum Foundation. He was a member of the planning committee for the community’s 10th and 20th anniversary celebrations. He also was a member of the first advisory boards of The Bank of Fountain Hills, CopperWynd Resort and Community Bank. He chaired the library/museum bond committee and initiated the Fountain Hills Sister Cities program serving as its first chairman.

Outside of Fountain Hills, he was chairman of the 1986 Maricopa County Revenue Sharing Committee, served as president of the Arizona Newspapers Association and served two terms on the board of the National Newspaper Association.

With NNA he served on the Pub Aux (the association’s newspaper for members) and convention committees and was co-chair of the 2002 national convention in Portland, Ore. At the conclusion of his board service to the National Newspaper Association, that organization established the Cruikshank Scholars program at the University of Missouri School of Journalism to honor his commitment to community journalism.

Among his local honors are Fountain Hills Citizen of the Year in 1984, Fountain Hills Business Person of the Year in 1989 and 2007, the Sunridge Foundation’s Champions award in 2001, MCO’s Commitment to Community Award in 2000 and was Fountain Hills Humanitarian of the Year in 1997.

He was honored as one of the community’s top 20 volunteers during its first 20 years, was elected to the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Arizona Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2003.

And he still finds time to run his own business, Western States Publishers, as its president and publisher. In 1995, Cruikshank learned he has Parkinson’s Disease. While it slowed him down, it never kept him from accomplishing goals he set for himself.

He considers his most shining achievement to be the River of Time Museum and Fountain Hills Library building. Doctors and his wife demanded he cut back his volunteer work in 2008 as his disease progressed. He stepped down in May 2008 after serving 12 years as president of the Fountain Hills Historical Society. After he stepped down, the board unanimously voted to add his name to the museum. There is signage in the building lobby designating the facility as the L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum.

One note on the lighter side, he was also the town Santa Claus for about six years and the King of Rock & Roll at various fund-raisers and special events for nine years.