[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 9, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E183-E184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING ARTHUR W. ``NICK'' ARUNDEL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 9, 2011

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I want to share with our colleagues the sad 
news of the passing yesterday of Arthur W. ``Nick'' Arundel,

[[Page E184]]

founder of the Times Community newspapers and publisher of the Loudoun 
Times-Mirror and Fauquier Times-Democrat, at age 83 at his home at 
Merry Oak Farm near The Plains, Virginia, in the 10th Congressional 
District.
  I had the honor and pleasure of knowing Nick Arundel, a decorated 
Marine Corps officer, acclaimed local newspaper owner and publisher, 
community leader, land preservationist, animal conservationist, and 
philanthropist who leaves a legacy of accomplishment that may never be 
matched.
  On behalf of 10th District residents I offer sincere condolences to 
his wife, Peggy, their five children, and 11 grandchildren. Their son, 
Peter, is president and chairman of the board of Times Community 
newspapers.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the obituary of Nick Arundel published in the 
Loudoun-Times Mirror of February 8.

                 Arthur W. ``Nick'' Arundel, 1928-2011

       On the eve of yet another honor in a long list of local, 
     state, national and international acclaims, Loudoun Times-
     Mirror and Fauquier Times-Democrat publisher Arthur W. 
     ``Nick'' Arundel died at his beloved Merry Oak Farm near The 
     Plains, on Feb. 8.
       He was 83, and was to be named the Outstanding Virginian of 
     2011 by the Virginia General Assembly today.
       The son of Russell M. Arundel, a Pepsi-Cola executive and 
     fox hunting enthusiast who once served as the chairman of the 
     National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, and Marjorie 
     Arundel, a renowned conservationist, Mr. Arundel took 
     inspiration from both sides of the family.
       He played polo and raced steeplechase horses, was an avid 
     rider and fox hunter and founded Great Meadow Field Events 
     Center.
       Mr. Arundel raced Sugar Bee, the only Virginia-bred horse 
     to win both the Maryland Hunt Cup and the Virginia Gold Cup 
     at Great Meadow. In his career, Sugar Bee earned Timber Horse 
     of the Year and National Stock Horse Association Horse of the 
     Year honors.
       Mr. Arundel also was an early enthusiast and a lifelong 
     energetic supporter of land conservation programs, helping 
     launch and nurture conservation easement programs that have 
     done much to preserve open space, agriculture and forestry in 
     the northern Piedmont.
       Wildcat Mountain, site of Merry Oak Farm, was one of the 
     first large tracts of land to be put in conservation easement 
     in Fauquier County. Altogether, the Arundel family has put 
     more than 5,000 acres under conservation easement.
       ``Growth over the years just ahead here will probably be 
     greater than in all of the combined history of Fauquier 
     County,'' Mr. Arundel wrote in a front-page statement of 
     purpose in his first issue as owner of The Fauquier Democrat, 
     which he bought in November 1974.
       ``It has the promise of creating opportunity for work and 
     careers for young people here, which have not always been 
     present. Growth must not and shall not happen at the price of 
     destroying this county's beauty, natural heritage and its 
     vital farm industry.''
       Great Meadow perhaps is the Fauquier County crown jewel 
     that perfectly aligns Mr. Arundel's interest in equestrian 
     sport and land conservation.
       The 540-acre tract had been destined for houses on one-acre 
     lots when Mr. Arundel purchased the boggy, low-lying 
     property.
       ``In an increasingly crowded nation with such large pieces 
     of land for these events gradually disappearing,'' Great 
     Meadow Foundation trustees said in accepting Mr. Arundel's 
     gift of the land, ``Great Meadow will provide a permanent, 
     open-space green theater preserved from development to engage 
     the graceful drama and color of these sports for the general 
     public . . . For the community and legacy of these great 
     sports, we are grateful for Mr. Arundel's characteristic 
     thoughtfulness in making this possible.''
       Born in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 12, 1928, Mr. Arundel 
     grew up there and in Mason City, Iowa. He graduated from 
     Harvard in 1951, a friend and classmate of Robert F. Kennedy, 
     and served as a Marine Corps paratroop officer in Korea, 
     where he was wounded, earning the Purple Heart.
       In 1954, Mr. Arundel parachuted behind the lines into 
     Hanoi, leading a clandestine team to successfully destroy key 
     installations there before Ho Chi Minh took over the city 
     after the French loss at Dien Bien Phu. That would not be his 
     last mission in southeast Asia.
       Mr. Arundel left the Marine Corps in 1955 with the rank of 
     captain, but returned to serve his country as a paramilitary 
     officer attached to the CIA in Vietnam. He was wounded there 
     as well, earning a second Purple Heart.
       Mr. Arundel was fond of telling the story of convincing 
     Edward R. Murrow that he had the skills and drive necessary 
     to become a reporter. Murrow was apparently swayed by the 
     young former Marine and sent Mr. Arundel to work as a Defense 
     Department correspondent in the Washington bureau of CBS 
     News. Mr. Arundel later joined United Press International, 
     also covering the Defense Department.
       After a stint as a special assistant to the Secretary of 
     Commerce, and with a bank loan of $75,000 and the courage of 
     his convictions, Mr. Arundel purchased D.C.-area radio 
     station WARL, a country music station, changing the name to 
     WAVA. Arundel and his staff began reading wire service 
     stories on the air when the popular morning announcer was 
     killed in a car crash on his way to work.
       WAVA became, ``the first all-news station in the world,'' 
     Mr. Arundel said. ``It's very pleasing to see that being 
     carried on today . . . in television.''
       Over the ensuing years, Mr. Arundel built Arundel 
     Communications (ArCom, now Times Community Media), adding 
     radio, television and, with the 1963 purchase of the Loudoun 
     Times-Mirror, newspapers.
       ``I fell in love with print journalism and left 
     broadcasting,'' Mr. Arundel said. ``I sold out of it.
       The money was in broadcasting, but the joy was in print. I 
     was never in print journalism till I bought my first 
     newspaper and walked in the door, sight unseen.''
       Mr. Arundel bought what was then called the Fauquier 
     Democrat in 1974. At the pinnacle of his career as a 
     newspaper publisher, ArCom operated 17 weekly community 
     newspapers in Fauquier, Culpeper, Prince William, Clarke, 
     Loudoun and Fairfax counties.
       Politically active, Mr. Arundel was on a first-name basis 
     with virtually every prominent Virginia politician and many 
     others who walk the national stage.
       While still at Harvard, he served in an internship with 
     then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon Johnson on Capitol Hill. He also ran 
     the Virginia presidential campaign for Harvard classmate 
     Robert F. Kennedy and threw his own hat into the ring for 
     election to the Virginia Senate in the early '70s as a 
     Democrat.
       Pragmatic and more concerned about leadership than party 
     labels, Mr. Arundel endorsed a variety of candidates for 
     public office on the editorial pages of his newspapers, 
     including, most recently, Republican John McCain for 
     president in 2008.
       ``In the first part of your life, you learn,'' Mr. Arundel 
     said of the development of Great Meadow, which he donated to 
     the nonprofit Great Meadow Foundation. ``In the second, you 
     earn, and in the third, you give it all back.''
       He remained in active pursuit of the last-named goal until 
     the end of his life.
       Recent projects included the establishment of Morningside 
     Training Farm, a 120-acre equestrian center at the very foot 
     of the Merry Oak driveway. There, Mr. Arundel was building a 
     training facility for every facet of equestrian sport.
       He also was actively engaged in the Journey Through 
     Hallowed Ground, which he founded and for which he served as 
     chairman.
       Mr. Arundel was a founder and president of Friends of the 
     National Zoo; the first chairman of George Mason College (now 
     George Mason University); a founder and president of Piedmont 
     Environmental Council; founder of the U.S. Marine Corps 
     Heritage Center in Quantico; co-founder of the National Press 
     Foundation; co-founder of the Washington Journalism Center, 
     co-founder and past president of the African Wildlife 
     Foundation; and a member of the Board of Visitors of 
     Harvard's Kennedy Center of Government, Duke University's 
     Public Affairs Institute, the Monticello Founders Board, the 
     Virginia Higher Education Business Council, National Sporting 
     Library, National Military History Museum, Virginia Museum of 
     Fine Arts, George Washington University, Waterford 
     Foundation, Fresh Air/Full Call Campaign, the Virginia Racing 
     Commission, and the Americans at War Foundation. He was 
     inducted into the Hall of Fame of Virginia Communications in 
     2001.
       Mr. Arundel was married for 53 years to his wife Peggy, nee 
     Margaret C. McElroy, of Philadelphia, who survives him.
       The couple had five children, all of whom also survive--
     Mrs. Donald DeWees, of Wilmington, Del.; Peter W. Arundel, of 
     McLean; Wendy Arundel, of Sherborn, Mass.; John Arundel, of 
     Alexandria; Thomas B. Arundel, of Washington, D.C.; and 11 
     grandchildren.
       Peter Arundel is president and chairman of the board of 
     Times Community Media, the parent company of the Loudoun 
     Times-Mirror, as well as the Fauquier Times-Democrat, the 
     Culpeper Times and the Gainesville Times.

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