Richard Henry Blacklidge  

Richard Henry Blacklidge Birth 7 Jun 1914 Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana Death 24 May 1993 Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana Burial Crown Point Cemetery Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana, son of Kent H. and Bernice (Kautz) Blacklidge

Blacklidge Heades Hoosier State Press Association

Lake Maxinkuckee Summer Resident Highly Honored



Richard H. Blacklidge of Kokomo and Culver, general manager of the Kokomo Tribune, has been elected president of the Hoosier State Press associtation



Mr. Blacklidge, who served as vice president of HSPA for the past year, too over the presidency July 1. He succeeds Ware Edgar, publisher of the two weekly newspapers at Knox.

ELected vice president was C. Richard Johnson of Boonville, while William a Dyer Jr. In Indianapolis was re-elected tresurer. The new secretary is Virgil M. McClintle, publisher of The White County Mr and Mrs Blacklidge are popular longtime summer residents of Lake Maxinkuckee, residing ar 2296 East Shore Drive.

The Hoosier State Press Association is composed of all the major newspapers of Indiana, inclduing the Clver Citizen. It is regared as one of the outstanding newspaper organizations of the entire United States. Wray E. Flemin is the association's general counsel and the man most responsible for it his standing.

Richard Henry Blacklidge Inducted 1971 into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame was established in 1966 by the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists,

Sigma Delta Chi


Richard Henry Blacklidge Born in Kokomo, Indiana on June 7, 1914, Blacklidge was the son of Kent H. and Bernice (Kautz) Blacklidge.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University in 1936 and was associated with the University newspaper, The Exponent during his career at Purdue, but he actually began his career in journalism with the Kokomo High School paper.

Immediately after his graduation from college, Blacklidge began selling advertising for the Kokomo Tribune in 1936. In 1938, he was elevated to the position of business manager, a position he held for 17 years.

In 1956 he was named publisher of the paper. He is credited with dynamic efforts in developing modern newspaper technology and in the application of systematic research to publishing problems during his career with the Kokomo Tribune.

Blacklidge served with the Army Air Force in 1944-1945 and has been past president or director of several professional organizations. Among these are the Inland Daily Press Association (President, 1960-61) and the Hoosier State Press Association (President, 1956-57 and 1967-68).

He was the first Hoosier elected to the presidency of the American Newspaper Publishers Association in 1970. He was an active member of the Howard County TB Association and the United Fund as well as the American Legion and Elks Club. He married Marian Reinhartsen on January 5, 1938. - by R.S. Pritchard

R. H. Blacklidge Retries as publisher of the Tribune; Kent Blacklidge succeeds him

Richard H. Blacklidge retired Friday as chief executive officer of the Kokomo Tribune after completing 40 years in that position, and Kent H: Blacklidge was named as his successor.

Richard Blacklidge will be retained by the Tribune ownership on a consulting basis, He became chief executive officer in 1938, assuming the position of general manager. In 1956 he was named publisher.

In his publishing career, he has been president and chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association and president of the Inland Daily Press Association and the Hoosier State Press Association.

He has been a director of the Union Bank and Trust Company since 1943 and a director of Public Service Indiana since 1968, and will continue to serve on those boards.

Kent Blacklidge, 39, has been active In the Tribune management since 1962 when he became dispatch manager. He began with The Tribune in 1961 as a display advertising salesman, and later was production manager. In 1968 he was named business manager, became general manager in 1973, and in 1976 was appointed associate publisher. A 1956 Kokomo High School graduate, Kent Blacklidge has a BS degree in industrial management from Purdue University and a master's degree in conservation, also from Purdue. He was elected to Phi Kappa Phi honor society in 1974 and also is a member of Gamma Sigma Delta, honorary agriculture socieity.

His community, activitles have included the Howard Community Hospital Foundation, secretary of the Mayor's Committee on Drug Abuse in 1973, president of the Northwestern School Corp. Elementary PTO, trustee of the First Congregational Church, secretary of the Howard County Sanitary Study Committee In 1970, director of the Kokomo Howard County Chamber of Commerce, president of the YWCA board of trustees in 1977 and president of Common Ground Clinic of Howard County, Inc., also in 1977.

He is a director and secretary of the Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company, a member of the Institute of Newspaper Controllers and Finance Officers, a past member of the mechanical committee and the cost and revenue study committees of the Inland Daily Press Association. He is a member of the Kokomo Elks Lodge.

He is married to Marilyn Quinnette Blacklidge and they have four children - Dawn Erica, Jill Rene, Douglas Kent and Mark Richard. - Kokomo Tribune Mon, Jun 19, 1978

Kokomo Tribune
Published: October 24, 2005

Serving North Central Indiana since 1850

Covering central Indiana since 1850, The Kokomo Tribune also publishes the Howard County Weekly, ... The Tribune has a long history with the Kokomo community. It made its first appearance on Oct. 30, 1850, when the Howard Tribune, a weekly newspaper, was published for a handf ul of readers... From 1897 to 1981 the newspaper was owned and operated by John Arthur Kautz and his descendents, his daughters and their families but primarily by the Blacklidge family (Bernice Kautz, one daughter, was married to Kent H. Blacklidge). John Arthur Kautz was owner and publisher until his death at which time Richard H. Blacklidge became CEO. Richard Blacklidge, Arthur Kautz's grandson, was publisher until 1978. Kent Blacklidge was publisher from 1978 until the newspaper was sold in 1981. The Kokomo Tribune was one of the most recognized small daily, family-owned newspapers in the nation in its day.... In 1981, Thomson Newspapers Inc. purchased the Tribune ... Then, in 2000 Thomson sold Tribune to the present owners, Community Newspapers Holding Inc., the parent company of many other Indiana newspapers, weeklies, commercial printing and direct marketing businesses....

married January 5, 1938 Marian Emmalyne Reinertsen Birth 7 Oct 1916 St. Louis County, Minnesota Death 6 May 2004 Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana Burial Crown Point Cemetery Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana daughter of Helmer Edison Constantine Reinertsen and Florence Beatrice Holloway