In 1968 Carol and I met in a living room to begin a campaign to save the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from a demise caused by short sighted leadership. That room was in the home of Mary Anna and Bill Towler. We had a wonderful campaign and indeed the Orchestra survived and continues to thrive. But that is not what this post is about.

We became fast friends with the Towlers and enjoyed their company and especially Mary Anna’s writing as an occasional columnist for the local paper – actually the flagship paper of the Gannet Newspaper system at the time. I will not say that I always agreed with her, but the research was always solid and the writing good to read. One day I had a call and Bill told me that Mary Anna was upset with the restrictions of writing an occasional column and finding that her strongest opinions would not be published. 

She wanted her own paper, where she could be the Editor-in-chief and express herself as she chose. Thus began City East, soon joined by City West and eventually united into City Newspaper, a weekly alternative newspaper. Somehow I found I had made an investment in that paper and sometime after the merger I was invited to join a very small Board of Directors. After several permutations and changes we were 4, Bill and Mary Anna and Tom R (I haven’t asked his permission) and the attorney Joe T (If you read this and want I will add your names).  We went though some rough times and recovered and then one day we sat around to decide whether to bring out one more issue or just close the doors. Obviously they brought out one more issue and then another and the paper flourished. 

As the years passed I kept asking how do we keep the paper going when you retire? The usual answer was, “I’m never going to retire, I love writing too much to stop” Bill was a bit less aggressive in refusing to consider an exit strategy. At a point when the paper had passed it’s 45th year reality checked in. The world of print newspapers, daily and weekly was shrinking and there was not going to be a ready market, or for that matter any market for a relatively small weekly in Rochester NY. Major weeklies in Boston, New Yok and other large cities were folding. The board members considered many alternatives and Bill shook the trees for potential buyers and all he got was headful of leaves. In a brainstorming session the Board came up with WXXI Public Broadcasting. they had already shown their appetite to expand into other community enterprises having bought the Little Theater, a wonderful art house that somehow never got torn down along with all the other 30’s and 40’s movie theaters in the city. 

The story continues. Today WXXI and City Newspaper have announced a plan for WXXI to acquire the paper. I expect my last act as a Board Member will be to authorize the completion of the transaction when all the due diligence and necessary steps have been done. 

I will miss our small gatherings once or twice a year to hear reports on profits and losses and plans for the coming year. I do not expect to get together with Mary Anna and Bill any less frequently when we are both in Rochester. 50 years later they are still very dear friends.