William A. Ott; Publisher of San Jose Paper

William A. Ott, president and publisher of the San Jose Mercury News for the last three years, died Thursday after a long battle with cancer. He was 61.

His death came three days after that of Joseph B. Ridder, publisher of the Mercury News from 1952 to 1977.

Ott rose to the executive suites of newspapers after working in newsrooms from Georgia to Ohio to Florida before moving to San Jose in 1986. Before going to San Jose, he was vice president for operations for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain for nine years. The Mercury News is a Knight-Ridder paper.

Jim Chapman, a longtime friend and colleague from Ott’s days in Macon, Ga., said Ott had been wanting to return to the newsroom after his stint in the corporate sector. “He was really looking forward to it . . . being closer to the action,” Chapman said.

His death drew comments of sadness from journalists throughout the country, including Tom Johnson, publisher of The Times, who worked for Ott in Georgia. “He was like a second father to me in many ways,” Johnson said.

Ott was honored in all the cities where he worked over the years but his greatest achievement, said the Mercury News in its obituary, came in 1982 when he was named an outstanding alumnus of the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Born in Moultrie, Ga., a small town about 100 miles south of Macon, Ott got his first newspaper job at 11, delivering papers. He worked in various capacities on newspapers while getting his education and was an honor graduate of the University of Georgia.

Over the years, Ott moved from editorial management to the business end of newspapering with papers in the South and Midwest before coming West.

Survivors include his wife, Bettie, and seven children.