John F. Fitzpatrick
| John Francis Fitzpatrick | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 18, 1887 Pottsville, Pennsylvania |
| Died | September 1, 1960 (aged 73) Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Occupation | Publisher |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor F. Crawford |
John Francis Fitzpatrick (January 18, 1887 - September 11, 1960) was the publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune from 1924 to 1960. He created the Newspaper Agency Corporation (NAC) in 1952.
Fitzpatrick was born January 18, 1887, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. His father was a railroad engineer. After participating in a strike, his father was blacklisted, and the family moved to Burlington, Iowa. Fitzpatrick graduated from Burlington High School and went to work for the railroad industry, including the Pere Marquette railroad.
He lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for a short time in 1910. He was working as a railroad clerk when Thomas Kearns, former U.S. Senator from Utah (1901–05), mining, banking, railroad and newspaper magnate, bought The Salt Lake Tribune in 1901, founded the Salt Lake Telegram and hired Fitzpatrick as his personal secretary in 1913.
Fitzpatrick married Eleanor F. Crawford in 1914.
Fitzpatrick's grandson, Timothy Fitzpatrick, is the deputy editor and editorial page editor of The Salt Lake Tribune (2013).
Following the death of Kearns in 1918, Fitzpatrick worked with the business manager and brother-in-law of Kearns, Frank J. Westcott. Fitzpatrick had a close relationship with Jennie Judge Kearns, owner of the Tribune and president of the Kearns Corporation. Fitzpatrick also reported to her son, Thomas F. Kearns, who remained president of the Tribune. Fitzpatrick officially became publisher of the Tribune upon the death of Ambrose McKay in 1924.
The Salt Lake Tribune had been the voice of the opposition to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which owns the other daily paper in Salt Lake City, the Deseret News. Confrontations between the Deseret News and the Tribune eased somewhat during the Tribune regime of Thomas Kearns, flaring only occasionally. When Fitzpatrick became Tribune publisher, "the savage salvos ended once and for ll." Fitzpatrick's legacy as the architect of accommodation between members of the LDS Church and non-Mormons in Salt Lake was such that his obituary in Time Magazine was titled "The Peacemaker." In 1937, Fitzpatrick hired his eventual successor, John W. Gallivan.
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