Last Paddock at paper reflects on family ownership legacy, importance of looking ahead

For 120 years of our company's 150-year existence, my family owned and operated Paddock Publications, from Hosea C. Paddock's purchase of the Cook County Herald in 1899 through 2019 when the company became employee owned.

Four generations of family members toiled their entire lives, well into their 80s, to make the company better, to make the newspaper the best it can be.

While Hosea's motto of "To fear God, tell the truth and make money" remains our lodestar today, it was never really about the money. It was about being a responsible voice within the community.

Our job is to hold government accountable, push for improvements and document local history.

We are a collection of professional journalists doing what we do best.

As the last Paddock actively working at the company, I find this an emotional undertaking. The fourth generation, however, is alive and well. My cousin, Robert Paddock Jr., and I are on the board of directors. So, for as long as we can, we will represent the family and all the generations that have gone before us.

Ours - and I write today as one of the employee owners - is a company in which every person here has been considered a member of the family itself. We care for each other, encourage one another, cheer each other on and celebrate each others' personal success.

It's how a good family does it. If an employee left to go work for big metro newspaper … how proud we were.

So many writers had their beginnings at our newspaper only to end up with the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Washington Post or other large newspapers.

While many came and went, so many employees stayed. They chose to spend their careers with us. We have many employees who have been with us 20, 30, 40 or 50 years or more - more than I have ever heard of in any other company. It says a lot about our culture, our dedication to the community and who we are.

Third-generation Paddock siblings Stuart Jr., Bob Sr. and Margie, who grew the newspaper from a small weekly to the third largest daily in Illinois, were mentors to most of us.

Stu was the vibrant businessman. Bob embraced community and charity work. And Margie was loved by everyone who knew her.

What few probably remember is how we became a daily newspaper. Up until the 1960s we were weekly, a true community afternoon newspaper printing anywhere from 100-200 pages.

About that time, Marshall Field IV, owner of the Chicago Daily News, started a daily newspaper in Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect called Day publications.

It became very successful. We were losing subscribers and advertisers quickly. If we had done nothing, we would have been out of business. So, with almost no cash, we went daily.

There is a big difference in being a daily newspaper. We needed to cover more than the village board meeting and a local football game. We needed to include national and international news and pro sports. We needed to be a full-fledged daily newspaper with all the bells and whistles.

It was an enormous undertaking, but everyone at the company did their part to pull it off.

A year later, we bought out Marshall Field IV and closed those newspapers.

The second generation siblings were Stuart Sr. and Charlie.

Stu was a quintessential newspaperman. He got involved in all aspects of newsgathering. As the suburbs began to grow by leaps and bounds, Stu was not afraid to tell it like it was. His editorials landed on the front page and he would boldly tell readers what should be done.

A school in Palatine bears his name. It seems everywhere I go, I run into students who attended it.

Stu and Charlie's father, Hosea, started it all. His first attempt to launch a newspaper was around 1872 in Wheaton. His financial partner defaulted so he was forced to close. His next attempt was in Libertyville. After a few years, Libertyville burned to the ground. Then in 1899 for $175 - we still have the bill of sale - H.C. bought the Palatine Enterprise and then a year later the Cook County Herald. Those papers were tiny but well established, having been founded in the early 1870s.

The rest is our history.

My father taught me never to look back. Focus on the future, he'd say.

While we pause today to look at the people and events that shaped the suburbs over the Herald's 150 years, we still focus on the future.

Employees now have the added incentive of ensuring the value of the company remains high - because it belongs to them. And they do that by providing the best news and advertising they can.