Ray named publisher, two directors retire at Daily Herald

Douglas K. Ray was named publisher of the Daily Herald by the board of Paddock Publications Inc. at its annual meeting on Tuesday, and two veteran board members retired. As publisher, Ray replaces Daniel E. Baumann, who remains board chairman. Ray is also chief executive officer of the company. A veteran employee, he began work as a reporter for the Daily Herald in 1970. Advancing rapidly through the editorial ranks, he became managing editor in 1976, executive editor in 1983 and editor in 1991. He was named general manager in 1998 and president and CEO in 2002.

Ray is a member of the board of directors of the Newspaper Association of America and former president of the Illinois Press Association. In 2006, he was named Publisher of the Year by Editor & Publisher magazine, a national trade journal. He and his wife, Carolyn, have two grown sons and reside in Inverness.

Also a veteran employee, Baumann became publisher in 1998 and chairman in 2002, the year he retired from fulltime employment.

Veteran Paddock directors Ann M. Paddock and C. Martin Larson were given emeritus director status. Mrs. Paddock, the widow of the late Publisher Stuart R. Paddock Jr., had served as a director since 1992. A former staff member of the Daily Herald, she served as secretary to Stuart R. Paddock Sr. before his retirement in 1963. During her career, she was active in a variety of civic activities including service with the Girl Scout Prairie Council, Northwest Hospital Auxiliary and Northwest Business and Professional Women.

Larson was elected to the Paddock Publications board in 1974. He is a former associate professor of economics and marketing at the University of Illinois Circle Campus. An Army veteran of World War II, he became a recognized expert in market research and consumer habits. He served as a marketing consultant to the newspaper beginning in 1967. His research led the to the successful conversion of the weekly Herald into a daily newspaper in 1969. He and his late wife, Jane, were longtime residents of Arlington Heights.