[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 16, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H1310-H1311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         STUART R. PADDOCK, JR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, Stuart Paddock, Jr., was a leader. He inspired 
reverence among his friends, his associates, and his employees. He was 
a leader who did not take credit, but instead, gave it away. He led 
with vision, enthusiasm, determination, and courage. His kind words, 
his optimism, trust in people, and thoughtfulness endeared him to all.
  According to an editorial in today's Daily Herald, if we took a poll 
of the people who work at the Herald, we would find something 
extraordinary. We could not find a single person with a bad word to say 
about Stu, not one. The work force numbers 880. That is the kind of 
leader he was.
  Stu Paddock died on Monday, April 15, at the age of 86. During three-
and-one-half decades of ownership, he built the Daily Herald from a 
weekly community newspaper to the third largest daily in Illinois. His 
is a remarkable success story of a family-owned business in an era of 
corporate giants.
  Paddock was the inspirational heart and soul of one of the small 
number of family-owned newspapers in America. When he assumed 
leadership of the company in 1968, the newspapers were publishing three 
times a week, with a circulation below 20,000. At his death, he left a 
growing suburban daily with a circulation of over 148,000, now the 7th 
largest in the Nation.
  Born September 19, 1915, in Palatine, Paddock graduated in 1937 from 
Knox College in Galesburg, and joined the paper as an assistant editor. 
He was called into service shortly after Pearl Harbor as a second 
lieutenant, serving as a company commander in a tank destroyer 
battalion as part of Patton's Third Army in Europe. He was discharged 
in 1946 at the rank of captain.
  In 1969, Paddock's willingness to take risks saved the newspaper. A 
critical slowdown occurred when Marshall Field and his Sun-Times 
started a daily newspaper called The Day in direct competition with the 
Herald. Over the next 4 years, the weekly Herald newspapers lost 40 
percent of their circulation.
  A plan to publish three times a week failed to turn around the 
paper's fortunes. ``We either had to go daily or die,'' Paddock later 
reflected. Shortly after taking over as president, he

[[Page H1311]]

turned the paper into a five-days-a-week publication in 1969. Day 
Publications soon surrendered and sold its newspaper operations to 
Paddock in 1970.
  Paddock constantly pushed expansion, adding weekend editions and 
weekly papers in Lake County in the 1970s that then went daily in 1984, 
and in the years since, Paddock oversaw nearly 20 expansions into areas 
of Lake, DuPage, Kane, McHenry, and Will counties.

                              {time}  1945

  Paddock's thoughtfulness is legendary among staff. Bob Frisk, the 
Daily Herald's veteran assistant managing editor of sports, retells the 
story of the night he was to be inducted into the media wing of the 
Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in Bloomington. Bob's wife was 
very ill and could not attend. Frisk was feeling lonely when Stu and 
Ann Paddock walked into the room. Paddock told Frisk, ``We didn't want 
you to be alone when you were inducted on this big night.''
  Stu's legacy is rich with similar stories, like funding spirits ``not 
the cheap stuff'' for a holiday party to celebrate a job well done in 
Naperville and coming out to cheer on employees who were playing for 
the local softball team.
  Stu Paddock enjoyed classical music, the Bears and opera. He 
supported a number of good causes like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 
Lyric Opera, Ravinia, Goodman Theatre and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. 
Stu was the father of six, five daughters and a son. His wife, Ann, his 
four children and between them, 23 grandchildren and four great 
grandchildren.
  Stuart R. Paddock, Junior, he served our country, he served our 
community, he served his employees and served his family with courage, 
honor, determination and thoughtfulness and will be sorely missed by 
all.

                          ____________________