A Woman to Know: Alicia Patterson
She was the greatest newspaperman I’ve ever known. — Jack Mann
She was the greatest newspaperman I’ve ever known. — Jack Mann
(image via Wikimedia Commons)
She came up in newspapers. Her great-grandfather owned The Chicago Tribune and her father founded The New York Daily News. So before buying Long Island’s Newsday in 1940, Alicia already knew what it took to print a paper and report the news.
But before she’d begin her career as a publisher, she’d endure a string of family-arranged engagements and marriages (a great story about the second engagement: she sent her father a telegram after news of Alicia’s acceptance found her overseas. “Furious not consulted,” she sent him. The marriage dissolved after just a year).
When she finally found her third husband, Harry Guggenheim, she saw a vision for their marriage (and his fortune): continuing her family’s newspaper legacy. With Alicia at the helm, Harry ran the administrative side of Newsday. Alicia encouraged a culture of curiosity, eventually leading her staff to a Pulitzer Prize win in 1954.
Just 10 years later, she passed away following stomach surgery. Harry commissioned Joan Miró to paint a mural in his wife’s honor. Today, the Alicia Patterson Prize awards grants to mid-career journalists, as specified in her will.
Add to your library list:
The Huntress: The Adventures, Triumphs and Escapades of Alicia Patterson (Alice Arlen and Michael J. Arlen)
Read more:
Alicia Patterson, Publisher of Newsday (The New York Times)
A pioneering female newspaper publisher in a male-dominated world (The Washington Post)
From the archives: influential women in Long Island history (Newsday)
Telling the Story of Alicia Patterson (Women’s Wear Daily)
Hear more:
Alicia Patterson and Levittown (Long Island Divided)
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