Ex-Owner of Predecessor to The Tribune Dies at 88

John A. Kennedy, 88, the former publisher of a San Diego daily newspaper which became The Tribune, died this week in his La Jolla home.

Kennedy purchased the San Diego Daily Journal in 1947. He sold it three years later to Copley Press. He also purchased the KFMB radio and television stations in San Diego and sold them in 1952. In addition, he owned the Sioux Falls Argus Leader in South Dakota until 1963.

He was educated at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and at the George Washington University School of Law, and subsequently worked as an administrative assistant to newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

During his extensive reporting career, Kennedy interviewed several world leaders, including Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Russian Premier Nikita Khruschev and Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito.

In 1929 Kennedy was given the Pugsley Award for the best work by a Washington correspondent for uncovering scandals in the administration of President Warren G. Harding.

Kennedy also served as a Navy captain in World War II.

He retired from journalism in 1963 and spent the rest of his life traveling. He spent summers and the last two years of his life in his La Jolla home.

His wife of 52 years, Bruce Lee Kennedy, died in 1985. John Kennedy suffered a stroke 10 years ago and was incapacitated until his death.

Kennedy is survived by his daughter Patricia Kennedy Grimstead of Cambridge, Mass.; two sons, Dr. John Hines Kennedy of London, England, and Davis Lee Kennedy of Gaithersburg, Md.; a brother Louis L. Kennedy of Minneapolis.; two stepchildren, 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Monday in St. James-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 743 Prospect St., La Jolla. Burial will be in Maplewood Cemetery in Elkins, W. Va.