Larson, vibrant voice of Daily Herald, dies at 95
By Burt Constable
bconstable@dailyherald.com
Hailed as the man whose economic and marketing research in the suburbs helped convert a chain of weekly newspapers into today's Daily Herald, Carl Martin Larson died Friday at his South Carolina residence from complications after a broken hip. He was 95.
Having lived in Arlington Heights for 50 years, Larson was one of the founding faculty members at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he taught economics and marketing and retired as a professor emeritus. His expertise made him a sought-after consultant who did important work for the village and park district of Arlington Heights, the Naperville Park District, the Melrose Park Chamber of Commerce, radio station WVON, a host of jewelry stores and many other businesses and public service organizations. His research for the village of Arlington Heights paved the way for the addition of the Arlington Heights Road ramps onto the Jane Addams Tollway, giving the village expressway access.
Beginning in 1967, Larson served as a marketing consultant to Paddock Publications, which was locked in fierce competition for suburban readers with The Day, a daily paper started by the Marshall Field-owned newspaper chain. Larson urged the Paddock family to update the look of their newspapers, switch from afternoon to early morning delivery and convert their weekly into the Daily Herald.
“We ended up buying Field's newspapers, incorporating the best of those products into ours, and it was the beginning of the modern era of Daily Herald newspapering,” remembered Douglas K. Ray, chairman, publisher and CEO of Paddock Publications. “It was a David and Goliath story of American newspaper journalism, and Paddock won the day. It would not have been so without the counsel of Martin Larson.”
A dedicated board member, “Marty was 100 percent Daily Herald,” recalled Daniel E. Baumann, chairman emeritus of Paddock Publications. “You could always count on Marty to ask the right questions at board meetings.”
Larson was elected to the Paddock Publications board in 1974 and served in that position until 2009, when he was named a lifetime director emeritus. The author of four textbooks, Larson wrote about the growing financial market of African-Americans in the 1960s and was a frequent guest on radio and TV broadcasts. In 1967, he hosted a series of half-hour television programs on his market research for what is now ABC 7 in Chicago.
“He always was an advocate for the growing suburbs,” Baumann said.
Larson's wife, Jane, who died in 2009, was a registered nurse who joined Northwest Community Hospital shortly after it opened in 1959. The couple is survived by their daughter, Debbie Poat, and her husband, Jeffrey, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., three grandchildren and eight great-granddaughters.
“Teaching was the biggest part of his life,” his daughter said Monday, calling him “a kind and gentle man.”
In recent years, Larson would catch a ride to board meetings with Robert Y. Paddock Jr., vice chairman and executive vice president of Paddock Publications, and his wife, Marcella Paddock, a fellow board member.
“He was always the teacher,” said Marcella Paddock, who remembers Larson rattling off history lessons or listing the U.S. presidents in order.
“What impressed me about Martin was the way he combined his intellect with his caring about his community, the Daily Herald and his country,” said Robert Y. Paddock Jr.
Born in Maywood, Larson served as a warrant officer in the U.S. Army Infantry during the liberation of Italy in World War II. He graduated from the University of Illinois and went on to receive a master's degree in business administration from Northwestern University. An expert witness and speaker for organizations such as the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions, the National Dietary Food Association and the American Marketing Association, Larson was a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, the national professional business fraternity.