Chandler, he said, loved being publisher. They also gave me quiet time so I could really think. Husband of Bettina Chandler Instead they always find new ways to spend money.. Thomas, who was among the editors brought over from the Mirror, said he believed that the windfall of local talent was as responsible for The Times subsequent success as the hiring of big guns from the East. He wrote a statement, dictated it to Bill Boyarsky, then city editor, and asked that it be read aloud to the newsroom staff. He was the fourth and final member of the Chandler family to hold the paper's top position. He set his sights on a goal making The Times one of the two or three great American papers and he pulled it off.. I think he saw leaving Missy as getting his freedom in one way, said David Laventhol, publisher of The Times from 1989 to 1994. He said I had to be well-rounded and implied that it was so I could ultimately take some executive position. And it became clear over the years that he did not have any such intention. Chandler was both more willing than most publishers to reinvest the papers rising profits in editorial improvements and more visionary in his approach to newspapering. He had the papers support when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1960. [2], On his 23rd birthday, Chandler proposed to his college sweetheart, Marilyn Brant, on the seventh hole of the Pebble Beach golf course. After the series was published, Otis asked for an editorial criticizing the Birchers. No publisher in America improved a paper so quickly on so grand a scale, took a paper that was marginal in qualities and brought it to excellence as Otis Chandler did, David Halberstam wrote in The Powers That Be, his 1979 book about the news media. Chandler would assume the newly created position of editor in chief of Times Mirror and, on Jan. 1, 1981, he would succeed Murphy as chairman. Le Dowling arbre gnalogique avec les parents d'undemi-million, contient des milliers de photos et plus d'un millierGeneaStars. Otis Chandler (November 23, 1927 - February 27, 2006) was the publisher of the Los Angeles Times between 1960 and 1980, leading a large expansion of the newspaper and its ambitions. Nearly a decade after his divorce, he installed the best of his animals in dioramas amid the classic cars and motorcycles in his Oxnard museum. Several prominent members of the family cousins of Otis who reflect the more conservative side of the family declined requests to be interviewed for this article. Brother of Camilla Chandler, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Chandler. After graduating from Stanford, he tried to enroll in an Air Force training program. Chandler died at his home in Ojai about 4 a.m., according to Tom Johnson, a former publisher of The Times who was acting as a spokesman for the family. Later he would briefly attend the Cate School boarding school in Carpinteria before his parents elected to send him east to attend Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Within four years, Time magazine and others were routinely mentioning The Times as one of the three or four best newspapers in the country. But Thomas said it really didnt take much persuasion, because he really did want to go., Chandler himself said: I think some of the family members and some of the corporate people were hoping I would step aside although I dont recall that there was strong pressure.. And sooner or later Im afraid well have to align ourselves with one of those companies to ensure the long-term survival of The Times., When Tribune turned out to be that company, Chandler said, Of all the people, of all the media companies that Times Mirror could join, this is the most logical and probably the best company.. [1], In 1990, Chandler was trampled by a musk ox in the Northwest Territories of Canada. At the time of her death in 1997, she had eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Chandler acknowledged that it was a difficult time for newspapers, but he disagreed vigorously with Willes approach. Chandler was elated; many who knew him well and saw him after that race said they had rarely seen him happier. Was the daughter of General Harrison Gray Otis and Secretary of the Times-Mirror Company (formerly the publishing company of the Los Angeles Times ). The stock price tripled during his first three years at the company, and circulation grew modestly. Norman Chandler (1899-1973), Publisher of the Los Angeles Times. But in a letter to his mother 12 years later, Otis referred to her as that person who made it possible for me to provide leadership to The Times, adding: It was a tremendous gamble for you to take on any young man of 32. There was no mention of his father. Growing up, Chandler had often said hed like to be a doctor, although he later conceded, I was never an outstanding scholar. When he left the Air Force in 1953, he had no clear sense of what he wanted to do with his life. The Hearst paper was subsequently hit by a devastating strike and ceased publication in 1989. Constance Chandler 1896-1962. The two married in 1922, and had two children, Camilla and Otis, both born in 1927. This was a flagrant violation of the independence of the editorial department, and it placed the credibility of the paper in jeopardy. He remained an avid reader of the paper. He was turned down because he was 17 pounds heavier than the maximum allowed for jet pilots, so he starved himself and quickly lost the weight. But even though the paper and the company has been sold, it feels to me like Im home again.. Her father had been mayor of Long Beach. [4], He was not involved in negotiations by other members of the Chandler family to sell The Times to Tribune Company, a clear sign of how his influence had eroded. If you will, its too complicated.. In the next three years, The Times changed as perhaps no other American newspaper has ever done in such a short time. I like living on the edge, he said in a 1999 interview, five months after his 71st birthday and two weeks after he suffered minor head injuries when he spun out in one of his Ferraris near the vintage-car and wildlife museum he owned in Oxnard. My style was to do the job and push the boundaries, and once Otis realized I knew what I was doing, he let me do it, Thomas said. He also complained that the papers editor and publisher never try to come up with new ways to cut the deficit. Like his father before him, he thought he should concentrate on companywide responsibilities, by succeeding Franklin D. Murphy as chairman of the Times Mirror board. Thomas was largely responsible for the great length and literary style of many Times stories qualities for which the paper became both celebrated and criticized. Katharine Graham, who became publisher of the Washington Post three years after Chandler took over The Times, and who relied on him as a mentor in her first days on the job, said in a 1999 interview the day after her 82nd birthday, when she was still very much involved with the Post Im so committed to the company and so is Punch [former New York Times Publisher Sulzberger] that I cant imagine one of us actually leaving. And that apparently gave Mrs. Chandler the opening she needed. More than 15,000 readers canceled their subscriptions, and Chandlers breach with some members of his family was widened still further. They didnt like the L.A. Times, he said in the 2005 interview. But it was fitting that his departure was so surprising to so many, for he had long been something of an enigma to his fellow publishers. But the newsroom was riddled with hacks, and Norman Chandler was unwilling to make sweeping personnel changes or to approve the expenditures necessary to effect significant improvement. Newspapers are a mature, non-growth industry, vulnerable to cyclical economic downturns and increases in the cost of newsprint, he said. I always had the feeling that I wasnt welcome in the building when Mark was in charge that maybe theyd have a guard try to throw me out if I tried to come in. Together, he wrote to Johnson after the changing of the guard, we are going to push the New York Times off its perch.. In Los Angeles, while working in the fruit fields, he started a small delivery company that . Arthur O. Sulzberger, who was then publisher of the New York Times, said that although he initially shared his colleagues surprise and disappointment when Chandler left, I later realized that I shouldnt have been so surprised. When Williams showed him the piece, the publisher said it wasnt tough enough. Jack Burke, Chandlers close friend since their days together at Stanford, had assembled an exploratory oil-drilling company called GeoTek in the late 1960s and early 70s. Thats why we diversified the company and went into television and cable and forest products and books and medical and legal publishing.. I started work right away, on the graveyard shift, midnight to 8 in the morning. He was a pressroom apprentice, at $48 a week, the equivalent of $356 in todays dollars. He finished second in the nation, third in the heavyweight division at the national weightlifting championships that year. The pay was $48 a week. 'It was three outside members of the [Times Mirror] board who persuaded him to do it For most of the first 80 years of its existence, the paper was such a journalistic laughingstock that humorist S.J. LA Times After dropping out of Stanford, Chandler started working at the newspaper as a secretary to his father, Harry Chandler, who had been its publisher since 1917. He was the fourth and final member of the Chandler family to hold the paper's top position. His son was perfectly willing, indeed eager, to do and spend whatever was necessary to achieve journalistic respectability. To put together his galaxy of star reporters, Otis Chandler employed what in much of the newspaper business amounts to a secret weapon money.. . [1], Chandler was an enthusiastic athlete and thrill seeker, an image he actively cultivated. I was more upset with myself than with Jack Burke, he said years later. His sudden elevation and his record as an athlete, not a scholar, at Stanford, led some members of the family (and their friends) to openly wonder if he had the intellectual capacity to run The Times. Son of Norman Chandler and Dorothy Buffum Chandler The GeoTek affair also damaged Chandler physically. About that time, Otis began telling Nick Williams, the editor of the paper, the kinds of improvements he envisioned making if and when he had the authority. Of all the political figures to benefit from The Times partisanship over the years, none had been more favored, or more successful, than Nixon. It wasnt meeting Bettina that did it, even though Missy thinks so, Chandler said many years later, referring to Marilyn Chandler by her nickname. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Atonio Mafi draft diary: Mental health should be a priority, even in football culture, Roundtable: Our March Madness projections for UCLA, USC and others, Elliott: Kings trade Jonathan Quick, a legendary goaltender who couldnt make time stand still, Left-handed pitchers offer gold-like value for high school teams, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures. "No publisher in America improved a paper so quickly on so grand a scale, took a paper that was marginal in qualities and brought it to excellence as Otis Chandler did," journalist David Halberstam wrote in his history of the company.[1]. Did The Times change out of foresight or luck? I think he fears that he would die if he werent building something.. When he lost, he delivered a diatribe that would long haunt him, bitterly denouncing the press coverage by which, it was widely realized, he meant The Times and promising, You wont have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference., Years later, Otis Chandler would insist that the paper wasnt as bad as some people said when I took over. His goal, he once quipped, was to make it a militant middle-of-the-road paper.. But he was hardly unaware of his familys powerful position. He was 78. Chandler cared deeply about how The Times was regarded by East Coast opinion-makers, and more than 40 years after his father first took him to a national convention of newspaper publishers, he could still recall, with an edge in his voice, how clear it was that The Times was regarded as a bad newspaper from a hick town.. By the time he left the publishers office, it had increased tenfold during his tenure. When doctors said Otis was dead, Mrs. Chandler wailed, My son is not dead! She picked him up and raced to another hospital, screaming all the way there, Otis is alive, Otis is alive!. Asked in a 1997 television interview whether he was satisfied with his legacy, he replied: I wanted to be No. When Burke asked Chandler if hed like to invest in his company and introduce Burke to other potential investors among the publishers wealthy friends Chandler was happy to comply. Its true that in 1958 Norman Chandler had promoted Williams, a 27-year Times veteran, to the top editors job and had given him instructions to initiate a more aggressive and evenhanded approach to the news. The truth probably falls in the middle. 1. When The Times consistently provided editorial support for various downtown redevelopment projects, civic activists were quick to say the projects would enhance the value of the Chandler familys real estate interests there. One cannot successfully run a great newspaper like the Los Angeles Times with executives in the top two positions, both of whom have no newspaper experience at any level, Chandler said. The booming Southern California economy helped immeasurably, of course. [1], Chandler was raised on a 10-acre (40,000m2) citrus ranch in Sierra Madre owned by his parents. They would race their cars down the Pasadena Freeway at 140 mph in the predawn hours en route to weightlifting sessions at the Times gym and double cheeseburgers at Tommys, just west of downtown. Otis shoveled fertilizer for the family fruit trees at an early age and was kept on such a modest allowance that even when he went to college, he later recalled, the most lavish transportation I could afford was half-interest in a secondhand motorcycle.. 1 child. He was bold in making changes and investments in the paper that transformed The Times into a world-class news organization., Otis was a giant in every way, said Donald Graham, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Washington Post Co. The paper you are reading is his monument. Chandlers wife, Bettina, was with him. The most traumatic experience of Chandlers childhood one that assumed mythic proportions as he grew toward adulthood came when he was 8. Concerned by the growing competition from television, Chandler urged his editors to transform the paper into a regional daily newsmagazine that placed a high premium on analysis, interpretation and good writing not just covering the days events but putting them in context and doing so in a lively and compelling fashion. Sierra Canyon proves to be too much for Taft in Division I regional basketball opener, High school soccer: Southern California Regional results and updated pairings, High school basketball: Southern California and Northern California Regional results and updated pairings, Clippers still seeking right roster combination as they fall to Timberwolves. Mark has the stock price and dividends up, and thats all they care about.. "No publisher in America improved a paper so quickly on so grand a scale, took a paper that was marginal in qualities and brought it to excellence as Otis Chandler did," journalist David Halberstam wrote in his history of the company. It was clear to me that it meant a lot to him and that he didnt want to feel shut out.. The disease is known for its fast progression. Former Times publisher Tom Johnson, left, greets Otis Chandler at a USC Annenberg Distinguished Achievement Awards dinner in January 2000. One had only to visit the mens room in his car and wildlife museum its walls covered with posters of scantily clad women draped over shiny sports cars to realize that his ultra-masculinity wasnt limited to guns, barbells, fast cars and motorcycles. Six weeks later, on the day that John Puerner of Tribune Co. took over as publisher of The Times, Chandler had dinner with Puerner and Jack Fuller, then-president of Tribune Publishing at their invitation. Under Otis Chandler, The Times became a critically lauded newspaper. But he never interfered with an editorial decision, Thomas said, never tried to tell me how a story should be written or edited or played, or how a page should look.. At the time he enrolled at Phillips, Chandler weighed 155 pounds. In 1995, when he was 68, his motorcycle collided with a tractor in New Zealand, leaving him with part of the big toe on his left foot missing, another toe severely damaged and the rest of the foot largely numb. Norman Chandler died in 1973. Well before Chandler was named publisher, a poll of Washington correspondents conducted by writer Leo Rosten named The Times one of the three least fair and reliable newspapers in the country. His most serious accident came in 1990, when a musk ox trampled him in the Northwest Territories of Canada and he had to be airlifted to a hospital. Ruth Chandler 1897-1987. He was the fourth and final member of the Chandler family to hold the paper's top position. Recovery was slow but complete, and it was during that period of recuperation, Chandler said many years later, that he did a lot of thinking and somehow developed my competitiveness.. 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