Randolph Apperson Hearst (December 2, 1915 – December 18, 2000) was a newspaper publisher and member of the wealthy Hearst family. He was the fourth of five sons of

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

and Millicent Hearst as well as the father of Patty Hearst.

Early life

Randolph Apperson Hearst was born on December 2, 1915, with his twin brother, David (1915–1986), to Millicent Hearst and

in New York City. He attended the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, and attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for one year.

Career

After graduating, Hearst joined the family business, the

Hearst Corporation Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

. In the late 1930s, he worked for '' The Atlanta Georgian'', one of the Hearst family's papers. After the Georgian was sold in 1940, he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and worked on '' The San Francisco Call''. In 1942, he joined the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies a ...

and rose to the rank of captain. After leaving the Army, he became an associate publisher of the ''Oakland Post-Enquirer'' and in 1947, he returned to the ''San Francisco Call'' as an executive editor. In 1950, he became the publisher of the ''Call''. Long active in management of the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'', he eventually became chairman of the Hearst board (1973–96). He retired in favor of his nephew, George Randolph Hearst Jr. Randolph Hearst never had the opportunity to become Chief Executive Officer. His father's will established a trust that had five family (initially his sons, then their heirs) and eight non-family trustees. All trustees served for life and elected their successors, which maintained the proportions of family and non-family trustees. The trustees name the corporation's board of directors, and the trust does not dissolve until all grandchildren of William Randolph Hearst alive at his death have died. It was under Randolph Hearst's chairmanship that the chief executive inherited from his father, Richard E. Berlin, finally retired, but the next three presidents were all also non-family trustees.

Personal and family life

Randolph Hearst was married three times, first on January 12, 1938, to Catherine Wood Campbell of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, who was the mother of his five daughters: Catherine, Virginia,

Patricia Patricia is a feminine given name of Latin language, Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician'', meaning 'noble', it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick (given name), Patrick. Another we ...

(Patty),

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

and Victoria. Catherine Hearst was a Roman Catholic and a conservative Regent of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

before resigning in 1976. In 1974, his daughter Patty made front pages nationwide when she was kidnapped by an extremist group, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and was soon after caught on film helping the group to rob banks. She renounced the SLA soon after her arrest. The ordeal placed enormous strain on the Hearst marriage, eventually leading to divorce in 1982. After their divorce, the first Mrs. Hearst moved to

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

. Randolph Hearst married his second wife, Maria Cynthia Scruggs (née Pachì, September 3, 1932 – July 17, 2017), originally of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, on May 2, 1982. The couple divorced in 1987. That year he married a third wife, Veronica de Gruyter (formerly de Beracasa y de Uribe).

Later life and death

Hearst bought Eastover in Manalapan, Florida, in 2000 from Melvin Simon. Hearst died on December 18, 2000, from a stroke. His seat as a trustee of his father's will went to Virginia Hearst Randt, second-oldest of his five daughters. He was buried on the family's plot in Colma, California. Hearst's personal estate was estimated in his last will and testament, written in 1989, at $25 million for probate purposes, but his lawyer (a co-executor of the will) observed that much of his estate- including insurance policies, jointly-owned properties, and trusts- was outside probate and therefore not accounted for; prior to his death, Forbes magazine had estimated Hearst's wealth as $1.8 billion.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hearst, Randolph Apperson 1915 births 2000 deaths American mass media owners Randolph Apperson Businesspeople from San Francisco United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Lawrenceville School alumni American twins 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Air Transport Command personnel