From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Otis Chandler
Otis Chandler
Otis Chandler Times’ quality could be attributed, at least in part, to his
desire to combat the East Coast opinion that, "The Times
Born November 23, 1927(1927-11-23) was regarded as a bad newspaper from a hick town".[1]
Los Angeles, California
Chandler attributed his pursuit of solo athletics like shot-
Died February 27, 2006(2006-02-27) (aged 78) putting and weightlifting to the same sources, saying,
Ojai, California "No one could say that the team carried me or that the
Cause of death Lewy body disease coach put me in because my name was Chandler".[1]
Education BA, Stanford University
Occupation Publisher
Youth
Otis Chandler (November 23, 1927 – February 27, 2006)
Childhood
was the publisher of the Los Angeles Times between 1960 Chandler was raised on a 10-acre (40,000 m2) citrus ranch
and 1980, leading a large expansion of the newspaper and in Sierra Madre owned by his parents.[1] Despite his fam-
its ambitions.[1] He was the fourth and final member of ily’s wealth, Chandler’s father insisted that he perform
the Chandler family to hold the paper’s top position. [1] field labor and did not spoil him with gifts.[1] There Chan-
Chandler made improvement of the paper’s quality dler spent much of his time alone, later in life unable to
a top priority, succeeding in raising the product’s repu- name a single childhood friend.[1]
tation, as well as its profit margins.[1] "No publisher in
America improved a paper so quickly on so grand a scale, Education and athletics
took a paper that was marginal in qualities and brought it Chandler first attended the Polytechnic School in Pasade-
to excellence as Otis Chandler did," journalist David Hal- na, often making his commute by bicycle.[1] Later he
berstam wrote in his history of the company.[1] would briefly attend the Cate School boarding school in
Carpinteria before his parents elected to send him east to
Family pedigree attend the esteemed Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass-
achusetts.[1] At the time he enrolled at Phillips, Chandler
Chandler’s family owned a stake in the newspaper since weighed 155 pounds. As a student he competed in basket-
his great-grandfather Harrison Gray Otis joined the com- ball, soccer, the high jump, running and weightlifting. By
pany in 1882, the year after the Los Angeles Daily Times be- the time of graduation, he weighed 200 pounds.[1]
gan publication.[1] He was the son of Norman Chandler, Chandler enrolled at his parents’ alma mater, Stan-
his predecessor as publisher, and Dorothy Buffum Chan- ford University, in 1946.[1] Like his father, he was a mem-
dler, a patron of the arts and a Regent of the University ber of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Sigma Rho chap-
of California. ter).[2] At Stanford he was a successful shot putter.[1]
Chandler was raised to share his family’s distaste for He broke the freshman school record with a toss of 48
labor unions, a tradition that favored the family’s finan- feet (15 m), 761/47 inches.[1] After bulking up to 6-foot
cial interests. As a child, each year his parents held a (1.8 m), 3 inches and 220 pounds, he won the Pacific Coast
memorial for the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing, Conference title and finished second in the nation during
linked to political agitators, that killed 20 Times workers. his senior year with a toss of 57 feet (17 m), 63/47 of
"I was raised to hate the unions," Chandler said.[1] an inch while serving as his team’s captain.[1] As a
"Oats" was Chandler’s nickname within the family.[1] weightlifter, Chandler finished third in the nation com-
Times editorial page editor Anthony Day observed peting in the heavyweight division.[1]
that Chandler "had been raised to be a prince".[1] Only a sprained wrist kept him from competing as
a shotputter for the United States in the 1952 Summer
Desire for respect Olympics.[1][2]
Throughout his life, Chandler complained that his family
was not properly respected by East Coast elites.[1] About Early adulthood
attending an exclusive East Coast boarding school, he After graduation, Chandler tried to enroll in an Air Force
said, "Nobody there had ever heard of the Chandlers. I training program, but was turned down because he was
was strictly a tall, skinny blond kid from California".[1] too large to fit in the cockpit of a jet.[1] Instead, he spent
Later in life, Chandler said his motivation to invest in The
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Otis Chandler
1951 to 1953 in the Air Force’s ground service, as a co-
captain of the track team and supervisor of athletics and
Retirement
drama at Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, California.[2] Chandler reentered the public eye in 1999 when he pub-
On his 23rd birthday, Chandler proposed to his col- licly criticized the LA Times for creating a special issue of
lege sweetheart, Marilyn Brant, on the seventh hole of its Sunday magazine dedicated to the new Staples Center
the Pebble Beach golf course. Their first child was a boy in downtown LA when the paper shared a financial inter-
named Norman after Chandler’s father.[1] est in the property. The paper’s Sunday magazine on Oc-
tober 10, 1999, was a special issue dedicated to the new
Preparation for power Staples Center sports arena in downtown L.A., home to
Chandler visited The Times frequently as a child, sliding the Lakers, Clippers and Kings. Such special issues were
down chutes that were used to drop papers to delivery financial windfalls for the Times, generating a record $2
trucks.[1] While in college, he sometimes worked sum- million in ad revenue. But as one of the arena’s 10
mers at the paper, most often moving printing plates and "founding partners", the paper had agreed to share the
other heavy equipment.[1] Despite that, Chandler did not issue’s ad revenue with the Staples Center without telling
envision journalism as a career during his youth;[1] in- its reporters or readers about the fiscal arrangement.
stead, he often said he would like to become a doctor.[1] Chandler, who had retired 19 years prior, sent his mes-
After leaving the Air Force in 1953, he had little direction sage directly to reporters, to the dismay of the newspa-
for his career. When he arrived at his parents’ home with per’s management. His successors, he said, had been "un-
his wife and first child, his father presented him with cre- believably stupid" and caused "the most serious single
dentials for a seven-year executive training program at threat to the future" of the paper his family had bought
The Times.[1] He started work right away as a pressroom in 1882 for this dangerous compromise of the paper’s ob-
apprentice on the graveyard shift.[1] The pay was $48 a jectivity.[3]
week.[1] His father made sure that Chandler experienced He was not involved in negotiations by other mem-
work in all sections of the organization, assigning him to bers of the Chandler family to sell The Times to Tribune
jobs in the industrial production of the paper, business Company, a clear sign of how his influence had eroded.[1]
management, clerical administration, and the newsgath- Regardless, Chandler welcomed the outcome, largely be-
ering operation.[1] cause of his dissatisfaction with the existing manage-
ment of Times-Mirror.[1]
Chandler died at his home in Ojai at the age of 78 due
Professional career to the effects of Lewy body disease, seven months after
In 1960, he became publisher of the Los Angeles Times. He his diagnosis.[1] Chandler had had earlier problems with
quickly increased the budget of the paper, allowing it to his health, suffering from prostate cancer in 1989 and a
expand its coverage. This coincided with the shift of the 1998 heart attack.[1]
paper from an overtly political (and generally conserva-
tive) publication to a modern, nonpartisan daily report. Recreation
Under Otis Chandler, The Times became a critically lauded
newspaper. Throughout his life, Chandler was an enthusiastic athlete
When Chandler took the job, the paper had only two and thrillseeker, an image he actively cultivated.[1] Dur-
outside offices.[1] During his tenure it would expand to 34 ing his life, Chandler was featured on the cover of sport-
foreign and domestic bureaus.[1] ing magazines like Road & Track, Strength and Health, and
In 1966 Chandler received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Safari Club. When photographed for the cover of the liter-
Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from ary magazine Atlantic Monthly he was depicted on a surf-
Colby College. board crafted from newspapers across a wave of dollar
Chandler retired from the position of publisher in bills.[1]
1980 at the age of 52[1] to become chairman of Times Mir- His son Mike was a race car driver in the CART Cham-
ror, reducing his involvement in the day-to-day opera- pionship Car series. Otis enthusiastically supported
tions of the company. The decision stunned the staff and Michael’s racing career until a near-fatal crash while
outside observers, many of whom expected him to serve qualifying at Indianapolis in 1984.
much longer.[1]
He handed control of the paper to people outside the Brushes with death
family in the mid-1980s and threw himself into other in- Apart from his medical problems, Chandler claimed to
terests such as the Chandler Vintage Museum of Trans- have had a half-dozen brushes with death.[1]
portation and Wildlife in Oxnard, California, which he 1. At age 8, Chandler was thrown to the ground during
founded in 1987 (although it was rarely open to the pub- a horseback riding lesson. His mother rushed him to
lic). a hospital, where doctors initially reported he was
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Otis Chandler
dead. His mother rushed him to a second hospital, [3] Booth, Cathy (November 15, 1999). "Worst of
where a doctor she knew revived him with an Times". Time Magazine. http://www.time.com/
adrenaline shot to the heart.[1] time/magazine/article/0,9171,992554,00.html.
2. On a 1964 safari in Mozambique, an elephant charged
his party. After the guide missed his shot and fled,
Chandler shot the elephant when it was only 10
External links
yards away, preventing himself and his wife from • Los Angeles Times, "LA Icon Otis Chandler dies at 78"
being trampled.[1] 27 February 2006
3. In 1990, Chandler was trampled by a musk ox in the • "Otis Chandler" Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale
Northwest Territories of Canada. He was airlifted to Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource
a hospital. Doctors estimated that his dislocated Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006.
right arm would never fully heal, but, citing a • "Otis Chandler, 78; transformed L.A. Times into a
disciplined training regimen, Chandler claimed to leading paper". The Boston Globe. February 28, 2006.
regain virtually all use.[1] http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/
4. In 1995, at age 68, he crashed his motorcycle into a articles/2006/02/28/
tractor while in New Zealand. He lost part of the big otis_chandler_78_transformed_la_times_into_leading_paper/.
toe on his left foot, saw another toe severely • Kandell, Jonathan (February 28, 2006). "Otis
damaged and the rest of the foot became largely Chandler, Publisher Who Transformed Los Angeles
numb.[1] Times, Dies at 78". The New York Times.
5. In 1998, at age 71, Chandler suffered minor head http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/obituaries/
injuries when he spun out a Ferrari automobile on 28chandler.html?ex=1298782800&en=418b087af329012c&ei=5090.
the road in Oxnard.[1] Retrieved May 20, 2010.
References Persondata
Name Chandler, Otis
[1] ^ Shaw, David; Mitchell Landsberg (2006-02-27).
"L.A. Icon Otis Chandler Dies at 78". The Los Alternative names
Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/ Short description
local/la-me-chandler- Date of birth November 23, 1927
obit,0,7195252.story?page=1&coll=la-home-
Place of birth Los Angeles, California
headlines. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
[2] ^ "Publisher Who Couldn’t Get Enough Date of death February 27, 2006
Competition". Stanford Magazine. May/June 2006. Place of death Ojai, California
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/
2006/mayjun/classnotes/chandler.html. Retrieved
2008-03-31.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otis_Chandler&oldid=474414237"
Categories:
• 1927 births
• 2006 deaths
• Deaths from motor neurone disease
• Los Angeles Times people
• American newspaper publishers (people)
• People from Los Angeles, California
• Stanford Cardinal track and field athletes
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