Frank Gannett
| Frank E. Gannett | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Born | 15 September 1876 Rochester, New York, U.S. | ||
| Died | 3 December 1957 (aged 81) Bristol, New York, U.S. | ||
| Occupation | Publisher, businessman | ||
| Spouse | ∞ 1920 Caroline Werner | ||
Frank Ernest Gannett (15 September 1876 – 3 December 1957) was an American publisher who founded the Gannett Company, a mass media corporation.
Life
He was born in South Bristol, New York and graduated from Cornell University (Bachelor of Arts). At the age of 30, he purchased his first newspaper, the Elmira Gazette (now the Star-Gazette). Six years later, in 1912, he purchased the Ithaca Journal. In 1918, he and his partners moved their headquarters to Rochester, New York where they acquired the Herald, Union(?) and Advertiser(?) and combined them as the Times-Union (the former evening paper of Rochester).
In 1923, Gannett bought out his partners and formed his eponymous holding company which then consisted of six newspapers. In 1928, Gannett had purchased the Democrat and Chronicle morning paper of Rochester. By 1929, the company owned 16 newspapers.
Active in state politics, Gannett took a neutral stand to the New Deal in 1936 before joining the opposition against President Franklin D. Roosevelt's court-packing scheme. He helped the Republicans retake control of Rochester's City Council a year later. At one time (1939-1940), he ran for presidential nomination. He was a founding member of the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government a group formed in opposition to FDR and the New Deal.
In his remaining years he worked hard to modernize his regional newspaper conglomerate. He was always striving to obtain modern ideas and machinery. The Gannett company owned 22 newspapers at the time of Gannett's death in Rochester in 1957. However, it was only after he died that the company grew nation-wide. The Gannett Corporation that he founded today includes such newspapers as USA Today.
The libraries at Elmira College, Utica College, and Ithaca College are named for him, in addition to the student health center at Cornell University (Gannett Health Services) and the building that houses the printing and photography programs at Rochester Institute of Technology. There is also the Frank E. Gannett Field House named after him at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
- Gannett owned and operated daily newspapers in small-to-medium sized, one-newspaper towns, like Ithaca, Rochester, and Hartford. Gannett’s one-newspaper town strategy was extremely profitable. At the time of his death, Gannett’s communications empire included more than 30 newspapers and a string of radio and television stations.[1]
Death
Frank Gannett is buried in historic Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.
