Doctors said his right arm, yanked from its socket by the impact, would be virtually useless for the rest of his life. Ex-husband of Marilyn "Missy" Chandler Stewart Even Chandler said some of those long stories made the paper seem gray, somewhat dull at times. He thought they had committed transgressions that jeopardized the reputation and credibility he had worked so diligently to establish. 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. In 1986, Chandler surrendered the titles of chairman and editor in chief, although he remained on the board and took on the largely ceremonial role of chairman of the companys executive committee. He quickly increased the budget of the paper, allowing it to expand its coverage. Chandler always denied any conflict of interest, and he invariably emerged from these controversies with his reputation for personal integrity intact. After leaving the Air Force in 1953, he had little direction for his career. Unencumbered by union contracts, Chandler made major technological improvements at The Times, shifting from traditional hot type letterpress production to more flexible photo-composition and offset printing, and making The Times the first major newspaper in the United States to computerize typesetting. "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]. As a student he competed in basketball, soccer, the high jump, running and weightlifting. The Securities and Exchange Commission dropped all charges against Chandler in 1975, but the case cost him more than $1 million in legal fees, and it had a devastating emotional effect on him. Chandler said the move would help allay the concerns of readers who, mindful of the papers partisan history, find it hard to believe that this newspapers editorial page endorsements really dont affect the news columns.. He was convinced that he had taken The Times about as far as he could, and he wanted more challenges and more freedom. When I asked what he did, he just said, I work at The Times,. Thomas recalled. 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. Chandler himself invested more than $200,000 of his personal funds. 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. Also, the name of Otis Chandlers first wife was incorrectly given as Marilyn Brandt. I think he saw leaving Missy as getting his freedom in one way, said David Laventhol, publisher of The Times from 1989 to 1994. [1] Later, Chandler said his motivation to invest in The Times' quality could be attributed, at least in part, to his desire to combat the East Coast opinion that, "The Times was regarded as a bad newspaper from a hick town". "I was raised to hate the unions," Chandler said. Chandlers words hit like a bombshell, both in the Times newsroom and in the newspaper business nationwide. Chandlers primary role was to provide the impetus, framework and financial support for change, rather than dictating specifics. 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.. Not long after, he left his wife, and three years later a year after he moved out of the Times publishers office he and Whitaker, 12 years his junior, were married. He once said that she had received and sought more recognition than she deserved for many changes at the paper, including his own rise, and that his father had long been underestimated. Lewy body disease is a brain disorder combining some of the most debilitating characteristics of Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases. When the Hearsts and Chandlers agreed to fold the two papers, The Times acquired a monopoly in the increasingly lucrative morning market, while Hearsts Los Angeles Herald-Express (renamed the Herald Examiner) was left with a monopoly in the increasingly problematic afternoon market. Updated: October 7, 2011 . I was a B student.). About the same time, McKinsey & Co., a management consulting firm, was conducting another of its periodic studies for The Times, and it too recommended dividing the responsibilities of publisher and chairman. His remarks were reported in publications from coast to coast. On that wisp of a lure, the room filled up with the cream of the Southern California establishment: corporate heads, college presidents, prominent lawyers and judges, Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson, members of the county Board of Supervisors, former California Gov. They asked me a lot of questions and made me feel welcome again, Chandler said a few days later. He had purchased his first a 1931 Duesenberg in 1968 for $35,000, and he built a world-class collection of Porsches, Ferraris, Duesenbergs, Cadillacs, Packards and other classics before selling all of them to meet the financial terms of his divorce settlement. Chandler, who had retired 19 years prior, sent his message directly to reporters, to the dismay of the newspaper's management. Connect to 5,000+ Chandler profiles on Geni, Norman Chandler, Dorothy Chandler (born Buffum), Cause of death: Motor neuron disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies - Feb 27 2006 - Ojai, 1930 - Los Angeles (Districts 0001-0250), Los Angeles, California, USA, 1940 - 800 West Orange Grove, Arcadia, Manrovia Township, Los Angeles, California, USA, June 18 1951 - Los Angeles, California, United States, Feb 27 2006 - Meiners Oaks, Ventura, California, United States, Nov 23 1927 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, Norman Chandler, Dorothy Chandler (geb. Buffum), Michael Otis "mike" Chandler, Norman Brant Chandler, From http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2010/09/found-on-ebay-norman-chandler.html, From http://www.laopera.org/tickets/Plan-Your-Visit/About-the-Music-Center/Dorothy-Buffum-Chandler/, U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007. As long as I knew him, Otis had an adventurous spirit and the courage to pursue it.. In a cover story on Chandler in 1967, Newsweek said, In the six years since his father made him publisher of The Times, Chandler has staged one of the most remarkable palace revolutions in U.S. journalism. Despite that, Chandler did not envision journalism as a career during his youth; instead, he often said he would like to become a doctor. New Search for: Last Name First Name (optional) Locality: Worldwide Information for This Surname Explore MyHeritage's records for the Otis family (Source: MyHeritage) Cemeteries The city editor, who had been hired during Chandlers heyday as publisher, said he felt an obligation to carry out his former boss wishes. The decision stunned the staff and outside observers, many of whom expected him to serve much longer. For most of the first 80 years of its existence, the paper was such a journalistic laughingstock that humorist S.J. Willes made several major cutbacks and refocused the companys efforts on newspapers, saying Times Mirror should concentrate on the business it knew best. 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. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. Overnight, copies of an old photo of Chandler were pinned and taped by the dozens to pillars and walls and bulletin boards throughout the newsroom, where some still remain. Ultimately, there was little that Chandler could or would do to influence the fate of The Times beyond this brief but dramatic entry into the fray. Chandler won many distinguished awards in his years at The Times: honorary degrees and plaques and certificates from various universities and other prestigious institutions, including a lifetime achievement award from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC a few months before the sale of Times Mirror. He was the fourth and final member of the Chandler family to hold the paper's top position. In one of their biggest coups, they brought in Robert J. Donovan, the Washington Bureau chief of the New York Herald-Tribune and one of the most respected journalists in the country, to be chief of the expanded Times bureau in the capital. But Tribune had long had Times Mirror in its corporate sights. Under Chandlers direction, The Times scrambled to hire the best of the reporters and editors from the two defunct papers and to get rid of its own deadwood. It wasnt as much fun.. Otis . Staffing in Washington and Sacramento was expanded. 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. As a weightlifter, Chandler finished third in the nation competing in the heavyweight division. For him a project is a process, a growth. This was a flagrant violation of the independence of the editorial department, and it placed the credibility of the paper in jeopardy. Ruth Chandler 1897-1987. Otis Ashmore Chandler (1891 - 1956) According to official documents, he wrote and telephoned a number of such people, including Evelle Younger, the former state attorney general and Los Angeles County district attorney. Surely, Chandler was the only publisher of his or any generation to have been profiled not only in Time, Newsweek and Editor & Publisher but in such magazines as Road & Track, Strength and Health, and Safari Club and to be depicted on the cover of the Atlantic Monthly in his bathing suit, riding a surfboard made of newspapers through the curl of a massive whitecap of dollar bills. 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. He was also the only reporter, rookie or veteran, whose name regularly appeared in both the Sports section, which chronicled his continuing exploits as a competitive weightlifter, and in the society pages, where his attendance at various black-tie events always rated a mention. But there is nothing as fascinating as the newspaper business, and I cant imagine any challenge more satisfying than the work we did to improve The Times.. Le Dowling arbre gnalogique avec les parents d'undemi-million, contient des milliers de photos et plus d'un millierGeneaStars. The stories described the Birchers extremist tactics and positions and, largely through their own words, depicted them as a threat to, rather than a defender of, the American way of life. 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.. It was a watershed experience, he said. They said I might be able to lift my hand to my mouth, but just barely and only after two years and only if I exercised it properly, he recalled. He had the papers support when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1960. [1], Chandler died at his home in Ojai at the age of 78 due to the effects of Lewy body disease, seven months after his diagnosis. 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. Willes, he said in 1999, was basically undoing what I and my father and Franklin Murphy all did, dating back to 1958. The series and editorial landed like a bombshell. They saw the sinister hand of communism behind such government initiatives as fluoridation of the water supply and integration of the schools. [1] You transformed the entire staff, he said, and the whole place had a totally different attitude.. The agreement made sense financially for The Times, but it proved to be a boon in another way as well. He finished second in the nation, third in the heavyweight division at the national weightlifting championships that year. More than 15,000 readers canceled their subscriptions, and Chandlers breach with some members of his family was widened still further. Otis enthusiastically supported Michael's racing career until a near-fatal crash while qualifying at Indianapolis in 1984. [2] In 1945, her husband became publisher of the Times, a position he held until he was succeeded by their son, Otis, in 1960. I dont butt in.. 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. Otis, meanwhile, still had no idea what his mother and father had in mind for him. Chandler was raised to share his family's distaste for labor unions, a tradition that favored the family's financial interests. I wasnt satisfied Im that way whether Im out riding my bike or racing a car.. Thats more than I ever heard from Mark Willes.. He died in 2002. But in the social pecking order of the Southern California elite, she was seen as a cut below the Chandlers, and they never let her forget it. The conservative movement that would lead to Barry Goldwaters presidential candidacy in 1964 and to Ronald Reagans subsequent rise was in its nascence. He entered a six-hour endurance race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., teamed with John Thomas, his motorcycle buddy and Porsche mechanic, who had long raced cars himself. 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. 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. Chandler changed The Times so dramatically and became so identified with the paper that when he left the publishers office at age 52, and again when he relinquished his corporate titles five years later, employees at The Times and Chandlers peers throughout the industry were both stunned and puzzled. Husband of Bettina Chandler Chandler pursued excellence in every aspect of his life, said Tom Johnson. 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. I never understood how he could just opt out like that., But Chandler, asked often about his decision to leave, said: I gave 40 years of my life to The Times and Times Mirror. In October 1999, The Times published a special issue of its Sunday magazine devoted entirely to Staples Center, the sports arena and entertainment venue then about to open in downtown Los Angeles. "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. But he did send memos to Williams, the editor, periodically in his early years as publisher criticizing the business and sports sections, for example, and complaining about the content and design of the Sunday magazine, then as now called West. He hunted. 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. Shaw, The Times longtime media critic, filed a draft of this obituary before his death Aug. 1. Chandler, he said, loved being publisher. But most of his friends and associates said he didnt really have his heart in his new jobs. In Los Angeles, while working in the fruit fields, he started a small delivery company that . Thats not in my nature, he said. FOR THE RECORD:In an earlier version of this article, the date of the Helsinki Olympic Games was incorrectly given as 1948. Chandler attended Stanford, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Sigma Rho chapter). A tribute will be held at The Times at a later date for Times staff, as well as retirees from the paper and the Times Mirror Corp. 2443 E Peach Tree Drive is currently listed for rent at $1,995 and was received on February 28, 2023. He also showed his father skills that went beyond the reportorial. Hes restless. Former Times publisher Tom Johnson, left, greets Otis Chandler at a USC Annenberg Distinguished Achievement Awards dinner in January 2000. The Dowling Family Tree with over half a million relatives,contains thousands of pictures and over four thousand GeneaStars.We are all related! Norman Chandler was delighted by this practical evidence that Otis had absorbed his childhood lessons of prudence and thrift. While in college, he sometimes worked summers at the paper, most often moving printing plates and other heavy equipment. [1], A sprained wrist kept him from competing as a shot putter for the United States in the 1952 Summer Olympics. Column: 15 minutes of fame flies by. 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. Geni requires JavaScript! Chandler was the great-grandson of Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, the blustery Civil War veteran who bought part-ownership of The Times in 1882, a year after it began publication, and was its publisher for 35 years. Otis Chandler died at age 51 years old in March 1971. 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. If a newspaper, even a great newspaper like the Los Angeles Times, loses credibility with its community, with its readers, with its advertisers, with its shareholders, that is probably the most serious circumstance that I can possibly envision. Many invested with Burke, who raised more than $30 million among 2,200 individuals over eight years. He also began to develop a love of speed and once had to do a stint in traffic school after getting a speeding ticket on his bicycle, he said. George Cotliar, who joined the paper three years before Chandler became publisher and served as an editor for almost 40 years, said The Times had been widely regarded as a crappy newspaper and a politically biased newspaper, and the Birch series and the editorial were a statement to the staff too. In an extreme example of the papers penchant for treating Democrats like nonentities, one lengthy article featured Knowlands attack on my opponent, the Democratic candidate for governor, who was described as a tool of union bosses and socialists. I think he fears that he would die if he werent building something.. He was featured on the cover of sporting magazines like Road & Track, Strength and Health, and Safari Club. Like his father, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Sigma Rho chapter). Such special issues were financial windfalls for the Times, generating a record $2 million in ad revenue. Not only did it not, as a rule, endorse Democrats for elective office; it didnt cover their campaigns. Victims suffer from severe dementia, as well as the stiffness, tremors and impaired movements characteristic of Parkinsons. But in 1968, the paper endorsed Democrat Alan Cranston for U.S. Senate over Republican Max Rafferty, whom it called an outspoken, militant conservative.. I dont know but I didnt have that choice.. He said it was good for his back.. Nixon, by all accounts, was stunned by the turnabout. 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. Were going to spend as much money as it takes to be the best newspaper in the country and I mean, specifically, [better than] the New York Times, Chandler said in remarks to the papers Washington Bureau in the mid-1960s. A million relatives, contains thousands of pictures and over four thousand are! The RECORD: in an earlier version of this obituary before his death Aug. 1 had taken the Times generating... Showed his father skills that went beyond the reportorial other heavy equipment but it proved to be boon... Greets Otis Chandler at a USC Annenberg Distinguished Achievement Awards dinner in January 2000 be a boon in another as... 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