SII’s Former Chief Was Grateful, So He Acted to Let the World Know
James P. Lennane, the flamboyant ex-chairman and founder of System Integrators, said goodby to his 230 newspaper and wire service customers on Tuesday with extraordinary full-page advertisements in eight papers, including the Los Angeles Times.
The ad, which appeared as a letter to “The Newspapers of the World,” praised the customers for Lennane’s electronic editing systems as “world-class publishers,” who, after “hours of brutal negotiations” joined him in “some of the best socializing you can imagine.”
Many of Lennane’s customers returned the compliment Tuesday, calling him a “genius” who was able to create tailor-made systems. “In my opinion, he was brilliant,” said Bob Nunley, publisher of the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Ark., one of the papers that carried the ad Tuesday. Nunley said Lennane’s firm developed a special system that handled news stories, advertisements and billing for his newspaper.
Lennane spent $200,000 to place the ads in eight newspapers to thank the customers who helped him build his Sacramento company into one of the leading suppliers of systems to edit and publish newspapers. He sold his 43% stake in System Integrators for $46 million last September to a group of the firm’s managers.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Lennane said he took out the ads because the death of his grandmother taught him, “the best time to thank people is while you have the time to do it. It’s appropriate now because I just left the industry, and these are the people who helped me build the business.”
Newspaper executives interviewed Tuesday said the ad was unusual, but not out of character for the unconventional Lennane, who once flew his Lear jet--the outside decorated with painted clouds--to Fort Smith, Ark., just to take newspaper publisher Nunley to lunch.
“He is very definitely an individualist in a lot of ways,” Nunley said.
Lennane, 48, firmly established himself in electronic editing in 1972 by developing a system for the San Jose Mercury News. Former Mercury News Publisher Tony Ridder, now president of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, said he persuaded Lennane to develop a system for the newsroom because he was pleased with one he bought from Lennane that processed classified ads.
“People thought we were crazy going with him,” said Ridder, who decided against buying a system with a larger company. “We had that much confidence in him.”
In 1982, Lennane sold his system to The Times. In his ad, he recalled that Times Publisher Tom Johnson gave him a $2.5-million deposit check “with trembling hands.”
Johnson said he doesn’t remember whether his hands shook. “I was nervous,” he said. “It was a major $10-million commitment.” The Times eventually bought $20 million worth of equipment from Lennane’s company.
Lennane’s company made him rich, and he enjoyed his success. “He in no way hid his aspirations for jets and the benefits of his labors,” Johnson said.
Indeed, Lennane’s ad refers to his “barely restrained opulence.” In an interview, he said he had just returned from a Miami boat show in which he was eyeing high-speed yachts. He owns an expensive high-performance boat named “Let’s Roll,” and has a $20-million Gulfstream G-IV jet on order. Lennane said he placed the order for the jet in 1983. He sold his company, he joked, “to get the money to pay for it.”
