Ralph Markham, Co-Owner of Greensheet Paper, Dies at 76

Veteran San Fernando Valley journalist Ralph H. Markham, who helped turn a small Van Nuys newspaper into one of the nation’s largest weeklies, died Saturday of a heart attack at his Van Nuys home. He was 76.

At the time of his death, he was co-owner and chief executive officer of the Antelope Valley Press, a Palmdale paper published four days a week.

Markham was best known for pioneering publishing techniques at the Valley News in Van Nuys, where he was co-owner and advertising director for 46 years.

He invented a system of newspaper delivery called “controlled circulation” for the Valley News that pleased advertisers by giving away free copies of the paper.

Green-Colored Paper

In the 1940s, Markham began printing his paper’s front page on green-colored newsprint to distinguish it from rival throwaway newspapers. The color became so popular that the paper changed its name to the Valley News and Greensheet in 1953.

When Markham sold his interest in the newspaper to the Tribune Co. of Chicago in 1973, it was being published four days a week, its circulation was 283,000 and it had more advertising than most daily papers in the state. The Tribune Co. converted the paper to daily publication in 1979 and later renamed it the Daily News.

Byron C. Campbell, president and publisher of the Daily News, said in a statement Saturday that Markham was “a dedicated newspaperman.”

“It was his life. He will be sorely missed,” Campbell said.

In Palmdale, Markham used similar controlled-distribution techniques to increase circulation by 800%--to 48,000 copies, a company spokesman said. Markham had purchased an interest in the Antelope Valley Press in 1958.

“His death is a considerable loss to us,” Managing Editor Vern Lawson said. “He was literally a driving force in the development of this paper.”

Markham was a former leader of the California Newspaper Publishers Assn. and the International Newspaper Advertising Executives Assn. He was a member of the Los Angeles Convention and Exhibition Center Commission and the Antelope Valley Board of Trade.

Service Clubs

Last year, he received an honorary degree from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., his hometown.

In the Valley, Markham was active in Boy Scout and YMCA work and was a member of the Van Nuys Rotary Club for 52 years. He was a past president of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce and a member of Van Nuys Elks and Masonic lodges.

He is survived by his wife, Virginia; three children, Marilyn Deatherage , William C. Markham II and Lawrence Markham, and six grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Praiswater Funeral Home, 5849 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys. A private burial will follow at Oakwood Memorial Park in Chatsworth.