Founder of Western Newspapers Inc. dies; built company into multimedia enterprise

Donald Norman Soldwedel, the man behind multimedia enterprise Western Newspapers Inc. and a member of the Arizona Newspaper Hall of Fame, died Wednesday in Tucson at 83.

In an editorial, The Daily Courier of Prescott, which Soldwedel acquired in 1958, called him "an ideal prototype" for a newspaper leader. Soldwedel built Yuma-based WNI into a collection of "three daily newspapers, 12 non-dailies, 44 specialty publications, two radio stations, two telephone directories, an outdoor advertising company, a specialty sign firm, two central printing plants, one commercial print shop, and numerous news and advertising-related websites," The Courier writes in an obituary.

Soldwedel was a director of the Newspaper Association of America from 1977 t0 1985, and as part of the organization he "helped in the development of kenaf fiber as a workable substitute for trees in the production of newsprint," the Courier writes. (Read more)