Norman Branchflower, 63; Advertising Innovator

Norman C. Branchflower, an executive known in the newspaper industry for his marketing innovations, has died. He was 63.

Branchflower died Monday during surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a return of renal cancer.

During a career that began with a writing job at the Del Mar Beachcomber and quickly led to ad sales positions with various papers, Branchflower persistently sought to change the way newspapers connected with their advertisers.

As president of Western States Associates, a publishers representative, he joined with a unit of Tribune Co. in 1988 to launch a national advertising syndicate that challenged TV Guide by selling space in the television listings of dozens of papers on a national basis. That service was sold to Tribune when the Chicago-based media company bought the Los Angeles Times four years ago.

In another venture, Branchflower pioneered the digital delivery of ads to papers with his Digiflex Inc. He also started the McDonald & Associates advertising agency. He eventually sold both companies and had focused on funding other new enterprises in recent years.

“His motto in life was, ‘You make things as good as they can be,’ ” said his wife, Suzanne.

Born in Alberta’s Jasper Park in 1941, Branchflower was a citizen of Canada. He moved to the United States with his family when he was 18 and attended San Diego State. An active outdoorsman, Branchflower served for a time as president of the Wilshire Country Club, and later oversaw a major renovation of its clubhouse.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, James; and two sisters, Claire Tucker and Carol Kreibom.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church in Los Angeles, with burial at Holy Cross Cemetery.