2003 to the VWU Key to the Future Campaign, which has funded a number of significant endowments at the university, among them the Batten Professorship, the Frank and Jane P. Batten Distinguished Scholar Award, which recognizes scholarship achievements among VWU faculty since 2004, and the Jane and Frank Batten Endowed Scholarships, which laid the foundation for the Batten Honors College full tuition scholarships. Frank Batten donated to the Norfolk Academy, for the school's library, as well as to the City of Norfolk for a new downtown library. In 2009, he also started the $50 million Batten Challenge at the Culver Academies, where he would match every dollar donated to the school during 2009-2010 with a dollar of his own. Personal life Batten lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his wife Jane Parke Batten. They had two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Dorothy, and son Frank Batten, Jr., who succeeded his father as Chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications on January 1, 1998, and has been leading Sunday night Bible study group at Tabernacle Church of Norfolk. In 2007, Batten was listed as the 190th richest person in the United States, according to Forbes 400, with a net worth of approximately $2.3 billion. Batten owned one of the Chesapeake Bay's largest racing yachts, the Shadow. References External links AP Obituary. Legacy.com Weather.com Profile - Harvard Business School 1927 births 2009 deaths American billionaires American newspaper chain founders 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) American television company founders Harvard Business School alumni People from Norfolk, Virginia University of Virginia alumni Journalists from Virginia Culver Academies alumni 20th-century American journalists American male journalists