“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.”
”“ Joseph Pulitzer
In these times of economic desperation, we could use a guiding light. Yet we get brinksmanship rather than leadership, leading us to believe any glimmer at the end of this tumultuous tunnel will be an oncoming train.
How did we get here? How did this happen? And seemingly overnight and unnoticed, no less? Where were the watchdogs?
Sadly, the “guardians” are more focused on twittering politicians than on the nation teetering on the brink of insolvency.
Sensationalism tops journalism too often these days. And even the investigative diehards are stretched too thin, as countless colleagues have been sent packing to bolster the bottom line.
Still, nothing happens in a vacuum. We are all to blame. Whether by misdeed or poor action, indifference or inaction, we all should be held accountable.
Mr. Pulitzer no doubt would be appalled ”“ not so much by the political egregiousness but by the media”™s tolerance of it or indifference to it. As would his grandson David E. Moore, a former associate publisher of this newspaper and founder of several other publications.
Mr. Moore, 88, died Aug. 2 at his home in Rye. He is survived by his wife, Katherine, three sons, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
His legacy lives on here, too, in our newsroom.
“I will always remember David Moore as gentle, caring and scholarly,” Business Journal Publisher Dee DelBello said. “The Journals were very important to him and we have tried to maintain the standards and editorial commitment to local business that he initiated nearly 50 years ago. Late last year, when we spoke, he seemed pleased with ”˜his papers.”™ We shall miss not having him there for us. The entire Journals staff extends heartfelt condolences to his family.”
The Business Journal featured David Moore on the cover last October, as part of a special edition noting the 42nd anniversary of the newspaper”™s founding in 1968 by John K. Smith, a former ad manager at The Wall Street Journal, and the 20th anniversary under its current ownership. In 1964, Mr. Moore had acquired a community weekly, the Independent Herald of Westchester, and converted it to a business publication. He then merged his paper with Smith”™s and the two also launched the Connecticut Business Journal, the forefather of the Fairfield County Business Journal. The business was later sold to a Pennsylvania-based publishing company. The papers were acquired by current owner Westfair Communications Inc. in 1990.
Mr. Moore was a fitting cover story, having paved the way for local business news. He was also a gracious subject, allowing us into his home for a photo shoot and then indulging us a few days later for another photo session at Westchester Community College”™s then-new Gateway Center, to which he and Katherine had donated more than $1 million.
We savored reporter John Golden”™s reflections on interviewing the Pulitzer heir. An editor”™s ideal.
“Moore was born in his mother”™s bed at Chatwold, the Pulitzer family estate in Bar Harbor, Maine,” Golden wrote. “From the summers of his youth there, he recalls the ”˜Tower of Silence,”™ his family”™s name for the four-story stone addition that the moody, physically ailing and extremely sound-sensitive Pulitzer had built as his retreat from the noisy world, ocean and people around him.”
Mr. Moore, a World War II veteran, studied international law and relations at Harvard University before returning to England and Western Europe in the U.S. government”™s Marshall Plan administration. Back in the states, he began what would become a 50-plus-year career in publishing.
His first journalism job involved “writing about parking” at the former Greenwich Life publication in Connecticut. He moved on to cover sports at the Port Chester Daily Item, one in the former Macy chain of Westchester and Rockland County newspapers that was acquired by Gannett Suburban Newspapers in 1964.
Following a quick stint in PR ”“ “I just hated it. I would have been fired, so I quit.” ”“ Mr. Moore set out on his own and started the Harrison Independent in 1962. That paper is now part of a chain of Westchester weeklies owned by Yonkers-based Rising Publications.
Wrote Golden, “Moore, long active in the Democratic Party, cherishes a note he received that year from President John F. Kennedy congratulating him on his startup: ”˜It is always a source of pleasure to see a newspaper appear, in these days when it is so vitally important that our citizenry be well informed. I know that you and your newspaper will be of great benefit to both your community and your country.”™”
As true today as it was back then. Perhaps more so. Never has the power of the press been so challenged ”“ via scandals a la The Guardian, social media and economic realities ”“ yet so needed to guide and enlighten.
A memorial service for David E. Moore is planned for Friday, Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. at Christ”™s Church in Rye.
