Former Sentinel owner, Lew

Willliams Jr., dies at 83

KETCHIKAN (KDN) – Ketchikan Daily News publisher emeritus Llewellyn “Lew” M. Williams, Jr., 83, died Saturday in Scottsdale, Ariz

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Williams was a pioneer Alaska journalist, active in newspaper, state and local affairs for more than 60 years. He died while vacationing in Arizona, four days after he had been due to return home to Ketchikan.

He and his wife, Dorothy, published newspapers in Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and Ketchikan.

They were the first to switch an Alaska newspaper from the hot-type method of printing to photo offset, which later became used universally in the industry.

They were the first to switch an Alaska afternoon daily newspaper to morning publication. They created a successful weekend edition for the Ketchikan Daily News while other small dailies in Alaska remained five-day publications. The Williamses were Alaska pioneers in adapting electronics to newspaper production.

In 1965, Lew Williams was a founder of the Alaska Newspaper Publishers’ Association, forerunner to today’s Alaska Newspaper Association. He served terms as president of each organization and served a term as director of the regional Allied Daily Newspaper Association.

The Williamses purchased the Ketchikan Daily News from the Paul S. Charles family in 1976, after managing the newspaper for 10 years. They sold their interest to their children, Lew III, Kathy and Tena Williams, after Williams retired as publisher in 1990.

Williams was born in Spokane, Wash., Nov. 26, 1924, to Lew M. Williams Sr. and Winifred (Dow) Williams, who met while both were reporters for Tacoma newspapers. The Williams family moved to Juneau in 1935, where the elder Williams worked for the Juneau Empire. In 1939, the senior Williamses purchased the Wrangell Sentinel.

After serving as a sergeant in the paratroops in World War II, Lew Jr. ran the Sentinel for the family. He married Dorothy M. Baum in Mitchell, Neb., on July 2, 1954.

The couple purchased the Petersburg Press and acquired the Wrangell Sentinel from the senior Williamses when they retired.

They sold both newspapers to Alaska Airlines President Charles Willis, and bought the Daily Sitka Sentinel and an interest in the Ketchikan Daily News. They sold the Sitka paper to Thad and Sandy Paulson to concentrate on publishing the Ketchikan paper when they bought out the Charleses. Although the Petersburg Press was suspended after he sold it, Lew Williams helped the Petersburg Pilot get started. All newspapers he and his wife ran were successful businesses and community leaders.

Williams was a lifetime member of Petersburg Elks Lodge No. 1615, the American Legion and Pioneers of Alaska.

Williams served on the Wrangell School Board, as mayor of Petersburg and on numerous state boards, among them the Alaska Judicial Council, the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association and the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska. He served on boards under every state governor through 1999. He served three years as the first secretary of the Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Board when Alaska took control of fish and game with statehood.

He was a past president of Rotary, served 29 years as an adult leader in the Boy Scout program, and was active in Democratic Party politics when Bill Egan was governor. For his public service, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities by the University of Alaska Southeast.

As a writer, Williams was noted for his strong editorials and weekly columns. He continued writing his column, “End of the Week,” up until his death, and occasionally contributed editorials. He continued to provide background material to Daily News editorial writers, because of his lengthy service in and extensive knowledge of public affairs. His advice was sought not only by reporters and editors at the newspaper, but also by municipal and state leaders.

In 2006, he published “Bent Pins to Chains: Alaska and its newspapers,” a book he wrote with the late Evangeline Atwood that is described on its dust jacket as “a journalism course, including a history of Alaska under the American flag.”

He believed the editorial was the heart and strength of any newspaper. He editorialized for Alaska statehood, for creation of the state ferry system, for the trans-Alaska pipeline, for power development, in support of the timber and fishing industries, and for airports, harbors and roads.

As a community booster, he was active in chambers of commerce and was a founder and first secretary of the regional Southeast Conference. He was named Citizen of the Year by both the state chamber and the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce in the early 1980s, and named Alaskan of the Year in 1991 by the nonprofit Alaskan of the Year organization, based in Anchorage.

Williams was a dedicated family man, who in his early days enjoyed hunting and fishing on the Stikine River. After retirement, he liked to vacation with family in Arizona.

He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughters, Christena and Kathryn; son, Lew III and daughter-in-law, Vicki; granddaughters, Kristie, Jodi and Melissa Williams; and great-grandson, Milan Browne, all of Ketchikan; sisters, Susan Pagenkopf of Juneau and Jane Ferguson of California; and by cousins in Alaska and Washington.

At his request, no service is scheduled. Messinger Mortuaries of Scottsdale is in charge of cremation.

The family suggests memorials to the First City Council on Cancer.