Maxwell’s Son Assures N.Y. Daily News Staff

“Like father, like son,” was the message Kevin Maxwell sought to convey Friday on a lightning visit to nervous executives, staff and union leaders at the New York Daily News.

Maxwell, 32, became chairman and publisher of the New York tabloid Wednesday, succeeding his flamboyant father, British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, who was found dead off the Canary Islands after disappearing from his yacht.

The elder Maxwell bought the tabloid from Chicago’s Tribune Co. earlier this year, saving it from near-certain extinction after a bruising strike.

The younger Maxwell’s one-day trip to New York was designed to dispel fears that the Maxwell family’s financial commitment to the paper might have died with his father. The elder Maxwell left behind a debt-ridden empire of newspapers, publishing concerns and other businesses.

“The commitment is we’re here to stay and we’re here to continue the work that Bob (Maxwell) started,” Kevin Maxwell said, stressing that he would emulate his father’s direct involvement in the management of the paper. “What it means for us is a home base in the States,” he explained.

John Campi, Daily News vice president for public relations, said Maxwell, in private meetings, assured the paper’s executives that the family will continue to operate the paper and fulfill his father’s pledges to infuse new capital. But Campi said Maxwell left the News without making a specific commitment to fund a sorely needed printing plant, expected to cost at least $200 million.

Union leaders expressed satisfaction with the visit. George McDonald, president of the Allied Printing Trades Council, said Maxwell told unionists that the family’s financial empire plans to sell off other assets to solve its debt problems--and retain the Daily News.

As if to underscore the continuity from father to son, Kevin Maxwell repeated a press stunt his father performed on the day after buying the paper last Spring. He donned a bright blue Daily News baseball cap and took up a position behind the counter of a newsstand on one of Manhattan’s busiest street corners.

This time, the crush of TV cameras and reporters attracted scores of passers-by.

Maxwell was due to leave the U.S. Friday night so he could attend his father’s funeral in Jerusalem Sunday.

In London, the price of Maxwell Communications’ stock continued to plunge Friday. The stock had lost about 30% of its value Thursday when trading resumed after a two-day halt called after word of Maxwell’s death. On Friday, shares dropped another 6.8%.