Dudley White: a plainspoken, dedicated newspaperman

SANDUSKY — A former publisher of the Register and Reflector is remembered as a dedicated newspaperman who spoke his mind but let his employees do their jobs. Dudley A. White Jr., 91, died on July 17, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His death was announced locally in September in obituaries in the Register and Reflector. A celebration of life is scheduled for Oct. 16 in San Diego; people who wish to attend may go online to bit.ly/Dudley-memorial to seek details. White's legacy as a publishing mogul has been continued by his son, Nicholas White, who formerly worked for the Register. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Daily Dot, which covers news about the internet at Dailydot.com. The online publication began operations in 2011. Nicholas White says he got plenty of support from his father. "He was very encouraging — he was funny, he was such an impatient person and his belief in me (justifiably or not) was so extreme, he was always sort of like 'Why haven't you done this yet? Why haven't you moved forward on the next idea?'," Nicholas White wrote in an email to the Register. "He didn't want me to be reckless, and certainly he understood all the problems that media and digital media have had for the last 20 years (he would often say he was glad it wasn't his problem). But he also always had more faith and pride in me than I deserved." White said his father took pride in thoroughly understanding the newspaper business. "I'd say the biggest and best lesson I got from him, businesswise, was, as he was fond of saying 'know your business.' He was very proud of the fact that at one time or another he'd done every single job in the newspaper, from sweeping the floors in the pressroom, to delivering papers, and operating a linotype machine," Nicholas White said. "Because of that, he was able to grasp opportunities in the business fast and act fast. The Register was one of the first papers in the state, of any size, to go offset. He made an offer on his first radio station within an hour of stepping in the building — I don't believe he'd ever been in one before, but a quick tour told him exactly how it was like a newspaper, and he was ready to go," he said. Dudley White's father was a congressman, U.S. Rep. Dudley White Sr., and so the son grew up in Norwalk and Washington, D.C. Dudley White Jr. was thrown into running the family's newspaper business when his father died unexpectedly in 1957 at age 56. He was the publisher of the Reflector at first and later became the publisher of the Register. Early days at the Reflector are recalled by Don Hohler, who began writing sports stories for the Reflector while still in high school. Much of the Reflector's sports coverage before that came from a city editor who lived in Norwalk, across the street from a football and basketball coach. Hohler recalls White as a good boss who treated his employees very well. "As long as you did your job, he was your best friend. We were very, very close," Hohler said. Hohler remembers only one time when White got mad at him. Hohler was sent to cover a basketball game in Willard but was not allowed inside the already crowded gym. White asked the next day who won and Hohler replied he didn't know. Some of White's employees were members of his own family, including two nephews, David and Norman Rau. When White retired on Dec. 31, 1993, after expanding the business holdings to include other newspapers in Tennessee, Michigan and Utah, and also buying radio stations, David Rau because the chairman and CEO. David Rau was still the CEO when Ogden Newspapers, our current owner and also a family business, bought the Register and Reflector in 2019. Norman Rau recalls he was 16, working in the pressroom, when he got an idea for a funny prank. He took a bunch of bungs, metal devices used for holding the large rolls of paper used for printing newspapers, and used a rope to tie them to the bottom of Dudley White Jr.'s car. When White tried to leave the Register's parking lot, the metal made a loud clatter, and sparks from the bungs hitting asphalt added to the entertainment. "He was furious with me. The guys in the pressroom couldn't believe I had done this," Norman Rau said. "He said, 'If you ever pull a stunt like this again, you're not going to be working here.'" White was very good at delegating, letting people do their jobs, David Rau said. "He was very careful not to tell me what to do every 30 seconds," he said. "He let me make my mistakes." Dudley White grew the family business, acquiring other newspapers and getting into the radio business by buying radio stations. He would make the rounds visiting the radio stations, trips that were known as "papal visits." It was clear that new employees at the radio stations were nervous at first. "But after five minutes, they realized he was really an endearing man and wanted to hear unvarnished reports," Norman Rau recalled. White himself was direct about speaking his mind. The late Bob Pifer, another Register publisher and a friend of White's, said that "There are no two more terrifying words in the English language than, 'Dudley called.'" David Rau remembers Pifer advised him that if you get a letter from Dudley White on Friday, don't open it; it likely will ruin your weekend. Wait until Monday, Pifer said. "He had a temper, but it didn't last long," David Rau said. "He didn't hold a grudge." The Raus said White loved food and that his hobby was breeding horses. During one business trip to Cincinnati, White and others went to the Maisonette, a fancy French restaurant (White was the only one in the party not wearing a suit, the Raus said.) White ordered two chocolate souffles for his meal and quickly gobbled them down. The restaurant was closing soon, and when the party emerged, TV reporters were there and wanted to ask questions. White told them, "For my money, I'd rather eat at Skyline Chili." White was not the sort of publisher who always was going to civic club meetings and serving on local committees, the Raus said. "He wanted to do his job and go do his own thing," Norman Rau said. "His hobby was the horses and going out to the farm in Norwalk."