Donald E. Newhouse, president of one of many largest family-controlled publishing firms within the nation and a former board chairman of The Related Press, died Tuesday. He was 96 and died at his dwelling in New Jersey, his household mentioned.
Throughout his profession, Newhouse served as president of the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and head of Advance Publications’ newspaper group, which he navigated into the web age.
“You reveled in his firm. He crammed you with power and humor while you felt uncertain and weak,” mentioned Anna Wintour, the worldwide editorial director of Vogue and Conde Nast’s chief content material officer.
“He was scrupulous about not interfering in editorial enterprise, however in case you turned to him for counsel, he invariably provided even handed recommendation,” she mentioned in an obituary launched Tuesday night time by the Newhouse household.
Newhouse, who lived in New York, spent practically 50 years overseeing the 35 newspapers of Advance Publications, the media enterprise began by his late father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., in 1922. His older brother, S.I. Newhouse Jr., was chairman of the corporate and oversaw Conde Nast magazines. He died in 2017.
Louis D. Boccardi, retired president and CEO of the AP, mentioned Newhouse was a unprecedented chairman for the cooperative.
“His voice was by no means the loudest within the room, but it surely was typically the wisest,” Boccardi mentioned. Newhouse was instinctively non-public, however behind that, Boccardi mentioned, was a beneficiant man, at dwelling anyplace and interested by every part.
“He may come throughout as self-effacing and deferential, however in Don’s expert arms these had been qualities that made him an enormously robust and efficient chief,” Boccardi mentioned. “You don’t typically see the adjective ‘heat’ connected to a titan of business, but it surely utilized to him.”
A person who didn’t chase the highlight
Newhouse, born in 1929, was identified for staying out of the general public eye. A reporter as soon as requested him to record the most important possibilities he took in his profession. The reply: “Inviting your questions.”
The normally reserved Newhouse did step into the highlight when he took on the position of chairman of the Newspaper Affiliation of America from 1993 to 1994 after which chairman of the AP board of administrators from 1997 to 2002. He had served on the AP board for 9 years earlier than turning into its chairman.
“He was a wise and shrewd businessman however as considerate and type a person as you’ll discover. Being in his presence was all the time a pleasure,” mentioned Doug Clifton, editor of one in every of Newhouse’s papers, The Plain Seller in Cleveland, from 1999 to 2007.
Newhouse attended Syracuse College however by no means graduated, heading into the household’s newspaper enterprise as a substitute. He would commonly go to his newspapers however left the final word authority of working them to his publishers.
“Every of our newspapers operates independently, with publishers who’re robust, who set coverage for his or her particular person organizations and who’ve the authority and accountability of finishing up the insurance policies they set,” he mentioned in 1993 when taking on as chairman of the newspaper affiliation.
Newhouse was identified for spending cash to make it possible for papers obtained the perfect tales. Jim Willse, editor of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., from 1995 till 2010, mentioned he would give “us all of the sources we would have liked to make The Ledger actually particular.” Willse mentioned Newhouse liked newspapers and newspaper folks.
“He particularly loved it after we’d have a narrative about some politician caught along with his hand within the cookie jar, or a spicy characteristic about stuffed shirts behaving badly,” Willse mentioned.
Newhouse’s philosophy of spending cash to supply high quality protection and a hands-off strategy towards his editors led to many successes, together with a number of Pulitzers.
A lot of these newspapers had been in a position to thrive and stay worthwhile as a result of they dominated their market, however Newhouse mentioned he was very a lot conscious of what he known as the “dramatically altering media panorama” and the way folks get their information.
“The Fifteenth-century revolution was epitomized by the printing of the Gutenberg Bible; ours by Ted Turner’s cable information community and by web-based information websites — information in actual time from anyplace to all over the place,” he mentioned in 2004 on the rededication of a communications faculty named after his father at Syracuse College.
Three years later, he instructed one in every of his papers, The Publish-Customary of Syracuse, N.Y., that newspapers can survive “by producing content material that’s related, attention-grabbing, correct and entertaining for newspapers and the web.”
He steered by way of monetary struggles
But the papers did in the end wrestle financially.
Advance was identified within the business for a pledge that staff who weren’t in a union would have jobs no matter financial downturns or technological advances. In 2009, the corporate introduced that the pledge can be withdrawn.
The corporate additionally moved away from day by day publishing of a number of papers. In 2012, it introduced that the Publish-Customary; The Instances-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Patriot-Information in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the Birmingham Information, the Press-Register of Cellular and The Huntsville Instances, all in Alabama, would stop day by day publication and would solely supply print editions on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. These adjustments had been accompanied by a whole lot of layoffs.
“His conservative strategy left each the papers and its staff considerably unprepared for the realities of the web,” mentioned Thomas Maier, who wrote a 1994 biography of the household.
Newhouse’s eldest son, Steven, spearheaded the corporate’s progress on the Web and on cellular units. Steven Newhouse is at present co-president of Advance Publications.
“My dad spent his life within the newspaper enterprise and was dedicated to it, constructed it up and loved many good years. When it turned more difficult, he was first in line to work by way of, discovering options to maintain the native journalism franchise going,” he mentioned.
Newhouse can also be survived by one other son, Michael, daughter Katherine Mele and grandchildren. His spouse, Susan, died in 2015.
