[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 70 (Friday, May 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1060-E1061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO AN ELOQUENT AND REASONED VOICE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DAVID DREIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 1997

  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, May 19, the San Gabriel Valley 
lost one of its most eloquent and reasoned voices when longtime 
resident and business leader F. Al Totter passed away. Following is an 
article from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, where Al Totter served as 
publisher for nearly 24 years:

       F. Al Totter, who served as publisher of the San Gabriel 
     Valley Tribune for nearly 24 years and led the development of 
     a major suburban newspaper group, died Monday of 
     complications from pneumonia at the Citrus Valley Medical 
     Center, Queen of the Valley campus. He was 66.
       Totter, who started working at the Tribune as a classified 
     ads manager on its first day of publication in 1955, served 
     as publisher from 1968 to 1992. The Tribune's success--and 
     that of its now sister papers the Pasadena Star-News and the 
     Whittier Daily News, along with small community papers--
     reflected the residential and industrial boom of the region 
     that it served.
       ``More than any other person, Al Totter was responsible for 
     the strength and the growth of this newspaper group, 
     especially of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune,'' said Ike 
     Massey, publisher and chief executive officer of the San 
     Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. ``I know he will be missed by 
     many in the community.''
       Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, a longtime Totter friend, 
     said the region had lost its most eloquent and reasoned 
     voice.
       ``He was the conscience of the Valley, and that really does 
     describe him. He was an individual who cared deeply about the 
     San Gabriel Valley, who cared deeply about his newspaper and 
     the newspaper industry,'' Dreier said.
       In 1982, Totter helped arrange the purchase of the Whittier 
     Daily News by Thomson Newspapers, which had purchased the 
     Tribune in 1968. Totter helped arrange Thomson's 1990 
     purchase of the Pasadena Star-News from William Dean 
     Singleton, who had earlier purchased the paper from 
     Knight-Ridder Co. He was president of the newspaper group 
     when he retired in 1992.
       Since 1996, all three newspapers have been part of the San 
     Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, owned by Denver-based 
     MediaNews Group Inc., of which Singleton is president and 
     CEO.
       Dreier said he maintained contact with the publisher 
     through the years, and had called him Monday after hearing 
     from Totter's son-in-law that he was not in good health.
       ``I am just stunned in light of the fact I just called him 
     this afternoon,'' Dreier said.
       Steve Cox, Totter's son-in-law and the family spokesman, 
     called him a ``special husband and father.''
       ``His guidance to his daughter, his son-in-law, and to his 
     grandchildren will be remembered for their lifetimes,'' Cox 
     said. ``He was an extra special person and very dedicated to 
     the family.''
       Born Sept. 4, 1930 in Joliet, Ill., Totter worked as a 
     department store clothing salesman and a truck driver to pay 
     his way through college, where he studied journalism and 
     advertising.
       He got his start in the newspaper industry in 1951 selling 
     advertising for the Herald News in Joliet, then moved to 
     California with his wife Shirley, who survives him.
       Totter enlisted in the Air Fore and served at Edwards Air 
     Force Base during the Korean War. After his military 
     discharge, he moved to Fullerton and worked as classified ads 
     manager for the Daily News Tribune. He joined the newly 
     established San Gabriel Valley Tribune in 1955 in the same 
     capacity.
       At the time, the San Bernardino (10) Freeway had just 
     opened, paving the way for rapid growth in the San Gabriel 
     Valley. Totter was one of a group of newspaper professionals 
     who brought together several east Valley weekly papers to 
     create the daily Tribune.
       Totter was named business manager and vice president in 
     1961, when the paper was sold to Brush-Moore Newspapers 
     centered in Canton, Ohio.
       He served as general manager until 1968, when Brush-Moore 
     Newspapers was purchased by Toronto-based Thomson Newspapers. 
     Thomson named Totter publisher, a position he held until 
     retirement in January 1992.
       Totter helped lead Thomson's acquisition of many 
     newspapers, including the Whittier Daily News. The company 
     owned more than 160 daily newspapers in North America during 
     the 1970s and '80s. He also served as an officer in the 
     California Newspaper Publishers Association and California-
     Nevada Associated Press Association.
       ``He was very well respected in the journalism community in 
     California and certainly played a major role in the growth 
     and evolution of the Thomson newspapers in California,'' said 
     Andy Lippman, chief of The Associated Press Los Angeles 
     bureau.
       He was a cost-conscious newspaper executive who knew how to 
     turn a profit even during recessions.
       Dick Terrill, who was circulation director and advertising 
     manager under Totter, called the late publisher an ``icon.'' 
     Under Totter's direction, the Tribune and Whittier Daily News 
     were the most profitable newspapers in the Thomson chain, he 
     said.
       ``He was a very good businessman, and the papers did very 
     well,'' said Terrill, now with the San Gabriel Valley 
     Newspaper Group's Specialty Division.
       Both the region and newspaper industry went through 
     enormous changes during Totter's tenure as publisher.
       ``I have had the privilege of watching the newspaper 
     industry move from the hot metal (Linotype-produced metal 
     type) to computers and modern offset presses,'' Totter said 
     upon his 1992 retirement. ``It was an honor to be able to say 
     that I started with this newspaper and to see it grow and 
     find an important place in the San Gabriel Valley.''
       Totter was also known throughout the industry as a tough 
     negotiator in contract talks with old newspaper labor unions. 
     He was also a tough boss with only one speed: fast.
       ``He walked fast, he thought fast, he talked fast and to 
     most of his employees he was a very intimidating, imposing 
     figure,'' said Bill Bell, editor of the Whittier Daily News. 
     ``I have interviewed many highly placed people in my 40 years 
     in journalism and believe Al Totter is the most intimidating 
     man I ever met. But, he could smile, joke, laugh and be quite 
     charming when he wanted.''
       Pat Pahel, who served as Totter's secretary for his last 
     five years, said the late publisher also had a compassionate 
     side for employees, recalling a time when Totter helped one 
     employee find proper medical care for a gravely ill child.
       ``He always knew who to get in touch with,'' Pahel said.
       Totter was a leader in the San Gabriel Valley community, 
     participating in such organizations as the West Covina Rotary 
     and the South Hills Country Club.
       Totter also was credited with playing a key role in the 
     growth of the life-Savers, a foundation that started in 1988 
     when a Covina doctor could not find a suitable bone marrow 
     donor for his leukemia-stricken wife.
       That prompted Dr. Rudolf Brutoco to organize Life-Savers 
     and start a drive recruiting donors for people suffering with 
     blood diseases. It grew into a national movement.
       ``He understood his readers and he wanted his paper to 
     reflect that, but he also wanted to reach out to them and 
     challenge them and I think he did that with the Life-Savers 
     story,'' Brutoco said. ``I give him credit for getting Life-
     Savers off the ground.''
       Totter's concern extended to his wallet. In October 1990, 
     he donated $15,000 to the organization from advertising 
     placed in a special supplement. Brutoco said Totter's concern 
     even continued in retirement.
       ``He contacted me a year or two ago and asked if there was 
     anything else he could do to further the cause,'' Brutoco 
     said. ``He did that even in his retirement.''
       He was also supportive of Republican politicians, such as 
     Dreier, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who 
     represents a portion of the San Gabriel Valley, and former 
     West Covina mayor and City Councilman Forest Tennant.
       Antonovich, who said he met Totter around the time the 
     supervisor first ran for county office in 1980, said the two 
     held the same philosophical views.
       ``He was a fiscal conservative who espoused family values . 
     . . He did not apologize for his views,'' Antonovich said.
       But Totter never hesitated to let his political friends 
     know when he disagreed with them and definitely knew his 
     facts. Tennant recalled when the two clashed over a plan to 
     install waste-burning, energy-producing facility in Irwindale 
     during the mid-1980s.
       ``He not only called me up and told me I was wrong--and 
     dead wrong--he convinced me that I was going to head the 
     committee to oppose it, which I did,'' said Tennant, 
     chuckling at the memory.
       San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group Editorial Page Editor 
     Steve Scauzillo recalled that Totter hired him as an 
     environmental writer when such beats were still rare in 
     newsrooms.
       ``Very few newspaper publishers supported a full time 
     environment writer in the 1980s like he did. He supported 
     environmental coverage,'' said Scauzillo, whom Totter hired

[[Page E1061]]

     exactly 11 years ago Monday to cover the environment.
       Totter is survived by his wife, Shirley; daughter Cheri 
     Cox; son-in-law Steve Cox; grandsons Bret and Chad; brother 
     George Totter of Joliet, Ill.; and sister Audrey Totter Fred 
     of Westwood.
       Funeral arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers, the 
     Totter family requests that contributions be sent to donors' 
     favorite charity.


                          A LIFE IN NEWSPAPERS

       The following shows highlights in the newspaper career of 
     Al Totter:
       1951.--Started selling advertising for The (Joliet) Herald 
     News. The Korean War intervened and Totter joined the Air 
     Force and was stationed at Edwards Air Force Base.
       1953.--Discharged from the service and joined the Daily 
     News Tribune in Fullerton as classified manager.
       1955.--Helped organize merger of three weekly newspapers 
     into The Tribune and joined new company as classified ads 
     manager.
       1959.--Appointed president of the Southern California 
     Classified Managers Association.
       1961.--Appointed business manager and elected vice 
     president of The Tribune when it is sold to Brush-Moore 
     Newspapers, based in Canton, Ohio.
       1968.--Appointed publisher upon The Tribune's sale to 
     Canada's Thomson Newspapers, which grew to become one of the 
     world's largest newspaper companies.
       1971.--Named president of the California-Nevada Associated 
     Press Association.
       1977.--Elected president of Western Newspaper Industrial 
     Relations Bureau.
       1982.--Helped arrange the purchase of the Whittier Daily 
     News.
       1988.--Elected to board of the California Newspaper 
     Publishers Association.
       1990.--Helped arrange Thomson's purchase of the Pasadena 
     Star-News.
       1992.--Retired.

       

                          ____________________