Charles S. Payson
Charles Shipman Payson also Charley Payson (October 16, 1898 - May 5, 1985) was a wealthy New York financier and lawyer who established the radio commentator’s news digest Commentator and later the isolationist journal Scribner's Commentator. He was president of the Payson Publishing Company.
Payson is best known as the owner of the New York Mets of the National League from 1975 through 1980. In 1975, he inherited the club upon the death of his wife, Mets founder Joan Whitney Payson.
Payson was a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. He married Joan Whitney in 1924, and together they funded the building of Pepperdine University's library.
Charles did not share his wife's enthusiasm for the Mets. He delegated his authority to his three daughters, with their youngest, Lorinda de Roulet, becoming team president. His daughters in turn left the baseball side to board chairman M. Donald Grant. However, when it became apparent that Grant had mismanaged the team, it was Payson himself who forced Grant out.
In 1980, he sold the franchise to Doubleday & Co..
Payson was a graduate of Harvard Law School.
In 1977, he married Virginia Kraft, a writer for Sports Illustrated. They remained married until his death.
Payson was a native of Portland, Maine.
