Leo Lerner

Leo A. Lerner (1907–1965) was an American newspaper editor and publisher, who founded Lerner Newspapers in Chicago, Illinois, at one time the largest chain of weekly newspapers in the world.

He was a staunch advocate of community journalism, fond of statements like, "A fistfight on Clark Street is more important to our readers than a war in Europe."

Newspaper career

Born in Chicago, Lerner attended Northwestern University, graduating in 1928. While there he was the Night Editor and Drama Editor for the Daily Northwestern. After graduation he worked for several local Chicago papers until the late 1940s, and was the only neighborhood newspaperman accredited by the State Department to cover the United Nations Conference at San Francisco in 1945. In the late 1940s he partnered with A. O. Caplan to become owner and manager of sixteen local papers, with a total circulation of 219,000. By 1958 Lerner was president, editor, and publisher of four newspaper conglomerates with more than 19 different papers.