Richard B. Scudder, American newspaper executive. Decorated bronze star; recipient Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry award, 1971; National Recycling award National Association Secondary Materials Industries, 1972; National Resource Recovery Man of Year award, 1978; Papermaker of Year award Paper Trade Journal, 1978; named to Paper Industry Hall of Fame, 1995.
Background
Scudder was named for Richard Betts Scudder, an ancestor who fought in the French and Indian War. Another ancestor, Colonel Nathaniel Scudder, was one of two delegates from New Jersey who signed the Articles of Confederation. Scudder has bloodlines that can be traced back to King John of Gaunt, (and King Edward III) and that can be traced through John Throckmorton (a gateway ancestor), back to the Magna Carta.
In September 1883, Scudder"s grandfather, Wallace M. Scudder, founded the former Newark Evening News.
Scudder"s father, Edward Wallace Scudder, operated the newspaper.
Eight generations of Scudders have graduated from Princeton, starting with a member of the school"s first class.
According to its alumni department, the Scudders are Princeton"s largest alumni family. A small sample includes United States. Republican
John A. Scudder (1775), Review John Scudder Doctor of Medicine (1811), Edward Wallace Scudder I (1844) Honorary
George Drake Scudder (1876), Edward Wallace Scudder II (1903), Charles Damarin Scudder I (1907), Charles Damarin Scudder II (1935), and Charles Damarin Scudder III (1963), and brother Edward Wallace Scudder III (1935).
Richard Scudder"s son and multiple grand kids have attended Princeton University. Richard B. Scudder (1935), and Edward W. Scudder (1935), together made the gift for Scudder Plaza in honor of their father, Edward Wallace Scudder (1903).
Education
AB, Princeton University, 1935. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Mon College.
Career
He served as MediaNews" chairman from 1985 until 2009. Scudder is also considered an innovator and pioneer of newspaper recycling. He founded the Garden State Paper Company, which later became one of the world"s largest newspaper recycling companies.
In 1935, Scudder earned a bachelor"s degree in Economics with honors from Princeton University.
He enlisted in the United States. Army during World World War II and served within Operation Annie, an Allied German-language counter-propaganda radio station. Scudder earned the rank of Major and the Bronze Star.
He later became the paper"s publisher from 1952 until its closure in 1972. In 1983, Scudder partnered with William Dean Singleton to purchase the Gloucester County Times.
The South Jersey daily newspaper, which had a daily circulation of approximately 26,000 at the time, would become the first newspaper of the duo"s MediaNews Group.
Scudder and Singleton, who had been friends before they became business partners, soon purchased other newspapers - four in California and four in Ohio, financed largely by Scudder. Today, MediaNews, a privately held company, owns such major papers as The Denver Post, The Detroit News, The Oakland Tribune, The San Jose Mercury News and The El Paso Times. Overall, MediaNews has 57 daily newspapers in 11 states with a combined circulation of 2.3 million, making it the nation’s second-largest newspaper company after the Gannett Company.
MediaNews" combined, nationwide circulation stands at 2.3 million, which are published by 57 daily newspapers nationwide.
MediaNews also owns 122 nondaily newspapers in nine states. Scudder served as MediaNews" chairman from 1985 until 2009.
Since 2010 Singleton is the company"s executive board chairman. Scudder died at his home in the Navesink section of Middletown, New Jersey, on July 11, 2012, at the age of 99.
Membership
Trustee Riverview Hospital, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Monmouth County Conservation Foundation. Former trustee Rutgers University. Advisory committee Princeton (New Jersey) Environmental Institute Served from private to major Army of the United States, 1941-1945.
Member New Jersey Audubon Society, Rumson Country Club, Seabright Beach Club, Seabright Lawn Tennis Club, Mill Reef Club, Adirondack League Club.
Connections
Married Elizabeth A. Shibley, June 24, 944. Children: Elizabeth H. (Mistress Philip Difani), Charles A., Carolyn (Mistress Peter M. Miller), Jean (Mistress Joseph Fulmer).
