Bulked up to 6 feet 3, 220 pounds as a senior in 1950, when he was captain of the track team, he put the shot 57 feet, 63/47 of an inch, to win the Pacific Coast Conference championship. Newspapers are a mature, non-growth industry, vulnerable to cyclical economic downturns and increases in the cost of newsprint, he said. I was strictly a tall, skinny blond kid from California.. Chandler insisted that he wasnt giving up the journalistic chase or losing his competitive edge, simply assuming a larger corporate responsibility. Direct, decisive and at times startlingly frank in both his personal and professional lives, Chandler told people what he expected of them, and he didnt have much patience with failure. On one memorable occasion, a hotel maid walked in on him while he was doing full squats with his wife on his shoulders in place of a barbell. While in college, he sometimes worked summers at the paper, most often moving printing plates and other heavy equipment. Typically, Chandler would offer gentle advice, Carroll said, but never try to dictate what the new management should do with the paper. Grandson of Harrison Gray Otis. Elisha Graves Otis Print Family Tree Born 3 August 1811 - Halifax, Windham Co., VT Deceased 8 April 1861 - Yonkers, Westchester Co., NY,aged 49 years old Founder of the Otis Elevator Co. 1 file available Parents Stephen Otis 1773-1859 Phoebe Glynn 1778-1867 Spouses, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren Chandler attributed his pursuit of solo athletics like shotputting and weightlifting to the same sources, saying, "No one could say that the team carried me or that the coach put me in because my name was Chandler". Some close to the family and the paper suggest that it might have been Mrs. Chandler who asked the board members to pressure her husband to step aside as publisher so he could devote his full attention to his chairmanship of the parent Times Mirror company, which was about to embark on a major diversification program. Chandler acknowledged that it was a difficult time for newspapers, but he disagreed vigorously with Willes approach. To put together his galaxy of star reporters, Otis Chandler employed what in much of the newspaper business amounts to a secret weapon money.. You cannot overstate the importance of Otis Chandlers impact on the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper industry and all of Southern California, said current Times Publisher Jeff Johnson (no relation to Tom Johnson). Otis enthusiastically supported Michael's racing career until a near-fatal crash while qualifying at Indianapolis in 1984. At a time when newspapers were becoming increasingly vulnerable to competition from the Internet, television, direct mail and other sources for information and advertising, Willes said it was imperative that they market themselves more aggressively and improve journalistically to make themselves more relevant to readers and more valuable to advertisers. I occasionally hunt with a bow I am a saltwater fisherman and dry-fly freshwater fisherman, a gun collector, a sometime skeet and target shooter, an avid backpacker, outdoor photographer, trophy skinner, wild game gourmet but a lousy cook. 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. Expressions of condolence or remembrance can be sent to the Chandler family at chan@mfire.com. He had the papers support when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1960. Landsberg did additional reporting and rewriting of the text. Staffing in Washington and Sacramento was expanded. Alberta Chandler, the wife of Chandlers uncle (and rival) Philip, was a prominent member of the Birch Society, and she and Philip had played host to Birch Society President Robert Welch. But the series also served notice that The Times was in the process of becoming a different and much better newspaper. Some at the Los Angeles Times felt that Chandlers sharp public criticism of management and the widespread attention it received played a role in several subsequent management decisions. Thats not in my nature, he said. Many people wondered if, in retrospect, Chandlers entire tenure at The Times had compromised his passion for freedom if he would have been happier had he been outside all the time, surfing, hunting, riding and racing, instead of being stuffed into a suit, sitting behind a desk, making speeches and attending meetings. There was widespread speculation after he gave up his corporate titles that he had been gently nudged aside by long-disgruntled family members. 1. login . I think he saw leaving Missy as getting his freedom in one way, said David Laventhol, publisher of The Times from 1989 to 1994. By his own count, Chandler had at least half a dozen brushes with death over the years, and that didnt include his bout with prostate cancer in 1989 or his mild heart attack in 1998. But it was Otis Chandler a world-class shotputter in college and a fierce competitor in every arena he entered who took charge of a paper that for decades had generated almost as much ridicule as revenue and transformed it into one of the best newspapers in the country. 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. Seldom has a newspaper had such an opportunity to meld the best of three staffs. Others argued that the negative attention that was focused on the paper, Willes and the rest of the Chandler family in the aftermath of Otis statement helped accelerate and crystallize the familys desire to sell The Times. But when Williams, the editor, suggested that the paper look into the organization anyway, both Otis and Norman Chandler gave him the go-ahead. I was a B student.). In 1958, the paper had covered the governors race between Republican William F. Knowland and Democrat Edmund G. Pat Brown in its traditional way: Browns campaign was virtually ignored while Knowlands was championed. But after about 18 months, I accepted an invitation to his house for dinner, and when I drove up to this huge mansion in San Marino, I thought, Holy cow! When I got inside, I said, Well, just what do you do at The Times?.. He also complained that the papers editor and publisher never try to come up with new ways to cut the deficit. [1], A sprained wrist kept him from competing as a shot putter for the United States in the 1952 Summer Olympics. Such special issues were financial windfalls for the Times, generating a record $2 million in ad revenue. There were so many changes going on, and I think if we hadnt kept up with the flow, The Times wouldnt have continued to do well financially Im glad we did what we did.. 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. Otis and Williams perhaps the ablest newspaper editor of his generation, in Halberstams words became a formidable team. Numerous top Times reporters left the paper, many to join the New York Times or to pursue other interests. . Unbeknown to the reporters and editors who worked on that project and to the entire editorial staff of The Times the paper had agreed to share the profits from the issue with Staples Center as part of a complicated arrangement by which The Times became a founding partner of the arena. [2], On his 23rd birthday, Chandler proposed to his college sweetheart, Marilyn Brant, on the seventh hole of the Pebble Beach golf course. He quickly increased the budget of the paper, allowing it to expand its coverage. He used the same tone of voice with the president of the United States and the guy who came to change the lightbulbs in his office, said Donna Swayze, his executive secretary from 1962 to 1988. Brian Lamb, right, founder and CEO of C-Span, interviews Otis Chandler in 2001. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to the Boys and Girls Clubs, the Central Coast chapter of the Alzheimers Association in Santa Barbara, or the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association/Hospice of Ventura. After a year or so in editorial, when I told my dad that Id just like to be a reporter, he said, no, I had to go on to other departments, Chandler said. Chandler later praised his editor for frequently reminding a young publisher that you cant change a whole paper overnight.. [1], In 1966 Chandler received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. When he started buying vintage cars again several years later, he purchased another 1931 Duesenberg, this time for $1.2 million, en route to building another world-class collection. When Burke was accused of fraud, Chandler too became a target of civil legal proceedings. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Although Chandler had previously been insistent that his criticisms of the business strategies pursued by Times management remain private, this undermining of the papers editorial integrity stirred him to action. He always has to have a project. I decided it was time to be a little selfish, to give myself full time to the things Id always enjoyed doing in bits and pieces., He may also have been frustrated by his inability to reach his stated goal of supplanting the New York Times as the most widely admired American newspaper. Otis Chandler, whose vision and determination as publisher of the Los Angeles Times from 1960 to 1980 catapulted the paper from mediocrity into the front ranks of American journalism, died today of a degenerative illness called Lewy body disease. Though Chandler said he was naturally saddened that Times Mirror will cease to exist and saddened by the end of local ownership, he had wondered aloud for at least five years whether Times Mirror could continue to thrive on its own in the turn-of-the-century mega-media merger environment. They never forgave her for her apparent role in Otis ascension over Philip. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. But in 1968, the paper endorsed Democrat Alan Cranston for U.S. Senate over Republican Max Rafferty, whom it called an outspoken, militant conservative.. Records may include photos, original documents, family history, relatives, specific dates, locations and full names. He spent 1951 to 1953 on the ground in the Air Force, supervising sports and acting as co-captain of the Air Force track team at Camp Stoneman in the San Francisco Bay Area. Periodically, Chandler rented the now-defunct Riverside Raceway for a day so he, Thomas and their friends could race their cars. Williams wrote a new one, warning that the Birchers extremism and smear tactics were subversive acts that could sow distrust and weaken the very strong case for conservatism. Chandler signed it and published it on Page 1. And that apparently gave Mrs. Chandler the opening she needed. During Willes brief tenure as publisher he relinquished the job to Kathryn Downing in 1999 so he could concentrate his energies on Times Mirror he did initiate a number of controversial strategies designed to increase Times circulation and advertising revenue. Nothing but my kids is more important to me than the Los Angeles Times, he said in 1999. He told me, You created a great newspaper, Otis, and well make you proud,. Chandler said. Among them: the mate of the musk ox that nearly killed him in 1990. His Stanford roommate, Norman Nourse, suggested that he try the shotput throwing a 16-pound iron ball. After graduating from Stanford, he tried to enroll in an Air Force training program. Chandler always denied any conflict of interest, and he invariably emerged from these controversies with his reputation for personal integrity intact. 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. I said something about wanting a weeks vacation first, but he wouldnt hear of it, Chandler said. As a student he competed in basketball, soccer, the high jump, running and weightlifting. He lived out one of his fathers fantasies when he became a professional race car driver, but nearly died in 1984 when his car slammed into a wall at the Indianapolis 500. And in January 1964, they hired a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist away from the Denver Post. [1] Instead, he spent 1951 to 1953 in the Air Force's ground service, as a co-captain of the track team and supervisor of athletics and drama at Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California. 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. 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. 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. He died in May 1972 at age 47. Chandler was just then becoming interested in big game hunting, and his approach to hiring was much the same: only go after the biggest and the best. During Chandlers 20 years as publisher and five subsequent years as editor in chief and chairman of the board of The Times then-parent company, Times Mirror the paper won nine Pulitzer Prizes and expanded from two to 34 foreign and domestic bureaus. He wrote offbeat feature stories, such as one about the people who feed sharks at the aquarium. The 1962 gubernatorial campaign was another. 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. Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, Chandler Vintage Museum of Transportation and Wildlife, "Publisher Who Couldn't Get Enough Competition", "Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication", "Otis Chandler, 78; transformed L.A. Times into a leading paper", "Otis Chandler, Publisher Who Transformed Los Angeles Times, Dies at 78", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otis_Chandler&oldid=1112344101, Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 September 2022, at 21:57. His two predecessors as chairman his father and Murphy had been invited to remain on the board, in a non-voting capacity, after their 70th birthdays, but Chandler was not extended a similar invitation, and he was clearly hurt by that. [1], Chandler was raised on a 10-acre (40,000m2) citrus ranch in Sierra Madre owned by his parents. Then, on April 11, 1960, Norman Chandler invited more than 700 people to a luncheon at the Biltmore Bowl ballroom in downtown Los Angeles, where he promised a special announcement.. The explosion was blamed on union militants, and, Otis once said, I was raised to hate the unions. (He later mellowed on that topic, although he always opposed unionization at The Times.). For the first time in his life, he found his personal integrity seriously questioned. He saw them both as restraints on his freedom. The negotiations were so secret that Willes said he didnt know about them until less than two weeks before the deal was done, and Chandler said he didnt learn of them until he began hearing rumors two days before the agreement was made. Heres a man who led a full life, said Otis Booth, his cousin and longtime hunting companion. On it, neatly typed, was a seven-year executive training program, scheduled to begin that Sunday night. Or did it, in some way, lead the region into change? Knowing that he couldnt create a high-quality, widely respected news organization if he relied exclusively on wire service reports and his existing staff, he began hiring top reporters and editors from other major news organizations and opening Times bureaus around the world. Chandler continued to meet regularly with Puerner and John Carroll, who became editor of The Times shortly after the Tribune purchased the paper and remained in that position until last summer. Nobody had ever heard of the Chandlers, he said later. [1] He was the son of Norman Chandler, his predecessor as publisher, and Dorothy Buffum Chandler, a patron of the arts and a Regent of the University of California. In the 1980 speech, he complained that he felt increasingly like an outcast. From the start, he wrote periodic first-person columns, prominently displayed in the front section of the paper, musing about the life of an athlete or the quirks of an outboard motor. He was 78. 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