Don Newhouse

I am terribly saddened at word of the death of Donald Newhouse, the last great gentleman of the newspaper business. Soft-spoken, unassuming, humble, kind, and generous, Don Newhouse was at the same time a publisher of vast experience, universal respect, and great strength. I had the great privilege of working for him via his sons, Steven and Michael, at various tasks in the newspaper, magazine, cable, and book arms of the media empire he built with his brother, Si. I entered at a moment of volcanic change in our industry, starting in 1994, just as the commercial browser was introduced and the company decided to forego Prodigy, AOL, et al for this new world wide web. One clear memory of mine is sitting at a table in Don’s unpretentious Newark office in the Star-Ledger with the family members who oversaw the newspapers, each of them traveling to a different paper and city each month. Thus they were called “The Travelers.” That day, one of the many new competitors to newspapers for their…