George Chaplin, 88; Editor in Chief Revived Honolulu Newspaper
George Chaplin, 88, who helped lead the Honolulu Advertiser from near bankruptcy to being Hawaii’s largest newspaper, died Monday in McLean, Va.
The cause of death was complications from a fall in which he broke his shoulder.
Born in Columbia, S.C., Chaplin graduated from Clemson College and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. He first arrived in Hawaii as an Army officer during World War II, and became the first editor in Honolulu of Stars and Stripes, the armed forces newspaper.
After the war, Chaplin held newspaper jobs in San Diego, New Orleans and Camden, N.J., before returning to Honolulu in 1958.
When he arrived at the Advertiser, its circulation was 47,000, far behind that of its rival, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
By the time he left in 1986, circulation had increased to 90,000, making it Hawaii’s largest paper.
As editor in chief, Chaplin replaced conservative columnists and oversaw coverage of statehood along with the boom in tourism brought about by jet travel.
After the death of his wife in 2001, Chaplin moved to Virginia to live with a son.
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