Everything about Eugene C Pulliam totally explained
Eugene Collins Pulliam (
May 3 1889 -
June 23 1975) was an
American newspaper publisher and
businessman who was the founder and longtime president of Central Newspapers Inc., a multi-billion dollar media
corporation.
Pulliam was born in a sod dugout house in
Ulysses, Kansas, the son of the Reverend Irvin and Martha Ellen Collins Pulliam,
Methodist missionaries sent to plant churches in the
frontier towns of western Kansas. The Pulliam's moved frequently and young Eugene grew up in a variety of dusty
prairie towns. Pulliam got his first taste of the newspaper business as a six year old paperboy selling papers to
Missouri Pacific Railroad passengers at the railroad station in
Chanute, Kansas.
In
1907, Pulliam entered
DePauw University in Indiana. At DePauw, Pulliam was a member of
Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and founded the
DePauw Daily, a student newspaper. He also helped found
Sigma Delta Chi.
Pulliam dropped out of college after his junior year and moved to
Atchison, Kansas where he got a job at the
Atchison Champion. A few months later, he received a job offer from
The Kansas City Star, then the largest newspaper in the lower Midwest. He moved to
Kansas City and became a reporter.
In
1911, aged 23, he became one of the youngest newspaper editors in the nation when he took over operation of the
Atchison Champion. A year later, he married Myrta Smith, a former college classmate. With financial backing from her family, he purchased the
Atchison Champion, the first of 46 newspapers he'd come to own.
After giving birth to a son,
Eugene S. Pulliam, Myrta died in
1917. In
1919, Eugene married Martha Ott and fathered two more children, Corrine and Suzanne. Eugene and Martha divorced in
1941. Later in
1941 he married his third and last wife, Nina Mason.
Pulliam's publishing empire would come to include the
Franklin (IN) Evening Star, the
The Lebanon Reporter,
The Indianapolis Star, the
Muncie Star, the
Arizona Republic and its one-time rival the
Phoenix Gazette, the
Indianapolis News, and the
Huntington Herald-Press. He would also own several radio stations including WIRE radio in
Indiana and KTAR in
Arizona.
In
1934, Pulliam consolidated his holdings into Central Newspapers, Inc., a
holding company designed to streamline the operations of his far flung assets. Central Newspapers continued to grow until it became a billion dollar media conglomerate owning outlets in Indiana, Arizona,
Georgia,
Oklahoma,
Kentucky,
North Carolina,
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and
Massachusetts.
Son Eugene S. Pulliam joined the family business 1935 as director of WIRE. Son-in-law
James C. Quayle joined the business and would lead several newspapers including the
Arizona Republic. Grandson
Dan Quayle, the future
Vice-President of the United States, began his career at the
Huntington Herald-Press.
Pulliam was a noted conservative and an active supporter of the
Republican Party, although he endorsed
Lyndon Johnson over
Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential race. He was an outspoken advocate of
freedom of the press.
Death/Posthumous
Eugene C. Pulliam died at his home in Arizona in 1975, aged 86. His widow Nina Mason Pulliam took over the presidency of Central Newspapers holding the office until
1979. She also became the publisher of the
Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette. His son Eugene S. Pulliam took over as publisher of the Indianapolis Star and the Indianapolis News. His granddaughter Myrta Pulliam contributed to the Indianapolis Star's 1974 Pulitzer Prize-winning stories on police corruption.
On
August 1 2000, Central Newspapers, Inc., was acquired by the Gannett Company, Inc., for US$2.6 billion. His estate, the Eugene C. Pulliam Trust, owned 78% of the company's stock and was the principal beneficiary of the transaction.
As a condition of his will, Pulliam ordered that the trust couldn't sell the corporation unless it was "seriously threatened" by a "substantially complete loss" of value. In a somewhat controversial move, the trustees interpreted this clause loosely and declared that the merger would be the only way to prevent the corporation from suffering a long term loss of value.
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