Heath, icon of community newspapers and rural journalism, and top expert on newspapers and the mail, dies at 75

UPDATE, July 30: Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. ET Monday, Aug. 2, at Parrott & Ramsey Funeral Home in Campbellsville, which will hold funeral services at 1 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Max Heath (Photo from Southeast Outlook)

Max Heath, an icon of community newspapers and rural journalism, died today at 75 after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke Friday, July 23. 

Heath was executive editor and then vice president of Landmark Community Newspapers, which was based in Shelbyville, Ky., where he lived. After retiring from Landmark, he was postal chair for the National Newspaper Association, helping countless community newspapers negotiate the often confusing world of the U.S. Postal Service. At his death, he was NNA postal chair emeritus and a consultant to the organization's Postal Committee. He was also a consultant to Landmark until it was bought in May by Kentucky-based Paxton Media Group.

Heath's passing "set off a period of mourning across the community newspaper industry," NNA said in a news release. He was known across the country as the leading expert on newspaper mailing, and before that was an editor and manager of weekly papers, starting in his hometown of Campbellsville, Ky. He was Landmark's executive editor for 21 years, overseeing 52 newspapers in 12 states, seven collegiate sports newspapers, seven free newspapers, 30 shoppers and more than 30 specialty titles. He was in charge of Landmark's acquisition development from 2001 to 2008, when the company announced that it was exploring a sale. It sold most of its dailies but kept its weeklies until May.

In 2012 Heath won the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian, presented by the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog. "Few journalists have had as much positive impact on as many communities as Max Heath," we said at the time. "He left a strong legacy of leadership during his years as executive editor of LCNI, recruiting, training and advising editors at the company . . . Heath largely established the editorial principles that earned LCNI national recognition. "He is and always will be a country editor," Benjy Hamm, Landmark's executive editor at the time, said at the awards dinner. Heath told the crowd, "Country editor is still the highest title one can hold, for its community impact."

Heath became NNA's point man on postal policy in 1989 when he joined the Postmaster General’s Mailers Technical Advisory Committee. The Postal Service gave him its first Special Achievement Award in 1998. "He served on numerous task forces and special committees to oversee the many changes in USPS and to guide its technical and logistical initiatives to preserve the affordable national mail delivery options of the community newspapers he so cherished," NNA said. "As NNA’s top guru, he conducted dozens of training seminars for NNA and other newspaper associations through the early 2000s, retiring only from the travel and never from the advisory function." He testified several times before the Postal Regulatory Commission, "often educating the commissioners, staff and USPS logistics experts on how newspapers were being handled in the field by USPS," NNA said.

“Max has long been a legend in the newspaper industry across the country as the go-to guy for anything postal, and has always been a stalwart ally of newspapers of any size and shape, “ NNA Foundation President Matt Adelman said. “He will be greatly missed as a true friend as well as a mentor, industry leader and invaluable partner in our constant struggle with postal issues on all fronts. His commitment and dedication to NNA and NNAF mirrored his passion for the newspaper industry throughout the many decades we have held him in such high regard. We look forward to honoring him and his immense level of service to our industry as we continue his work.”

NNA Executive Director Lynne Lance said, “Max’s generous way of helping people to understand the ins and outs of using the mail will live on in the education he provided his successors. No one will ever replace the knowledge Max had. But we pledge to honor his legacy by making sure community newspapers remain in the forefront of the Postal Service’s mission.”

Heath was on the advisory board of the rural-journalism institute and the governing board of the Southeast Outlook, a weekly published by the large, nondenominational Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Ann, and son Jason, of Louisville. Funeral arrangements are pending.