Richard B Scudder

Scudder earned an economics degree from Princeton University in 1935 and then worked as a reporter at the Boston Herald and then at the Newark Evening News, which had been founded by his grandfather in 1882. He would work at the Newark newspaper for 30 years, ending that run as publisher in 1972. Scudder teamed up with William Dean Singleton to build Denver-based MediaNews Group into the nation's second-largest newspaper company by circulation. Scudder and Singleton forged a decades-long business partnership starting with the 1983 purchase of The Gloucester County Times in New Jersey. They combined with Media General Inc. to form Garden States Newspapers in 1985, and then launched MediaNews Group as an umbrella company. Scudder retired as chairman of MediaNews Group on Nov. 30, 2009. In 2010, he surrendered his holdings as part of a court-approved reorganization. MediaNews Group now operates under the management of Digital First Media. Scudder is survived by three daughters, Jean Fulmer of Maine, Carolyn Miller of Pennsylvania, and Holly Difiani of New Mexico; son Charles Scudder of Oregon; and nine grandchildren.