G. Gordon Strong, 92; ran the Brush-Moore Newspapers chain
G. Gordon Strong, who headed a newspaper chain in the 1960s that included the San Gabriel Valley Daily Tribune and the Oxnard Press Courier, died of pneumonia Monday at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, said his son, George. Strong was 92.
Strong led Brush-Moore Newspapers for 15 years, expanding the small chain from Ohio and a few Eastern states to California, until he oversaw its sale to the Thomson Newspaper Group in 1967. The $72-million sales price for the dozen papers in five states was the most anyone had paid for an American journalism property, United Press International reported at the time.
The sale gave Thomson 35 newspapers in the U.S., and Strong served as chairman of the company’s board for a decade. When he retired in 1977, the Thomson chain had grown to about 115 newspapers, his son said.
Two days into retirement, Strong was asked to become publisher of the Oakland Tribune; he stayed with the paper until retiring again in 1980, his son said.
He remained in Oakland until moving to La Canada Flintridge in 1990 to live with his son.
Born in 1913 in Vancouver, Canada, Strong entered college at 15 and earned three degrees by the time he was 22: bachelor’s degrees in commerce and in economics from the University of British Columbia and a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University. A law degree from the University of Toledo followed in 1940.
After starting his career as a business professor, Strong worked in finance for the Red Cross in Italy from 1943 to 1945. While there, he received a telegram that brought him to newspapers. It was an invitation to join the business side of Ohio’s Toledo Blade.
In addition to his son, George G. Strong Jr., Strong is survived by a daughter, Jeanne Strong Cassayre of Napa, Calif., six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Jean, his wife of 65 years, died in 2001.
