News-Sentinel, The (Fort Wayne, IN) - March 26, 1987
Helene Foellinger: Former publisher Foellinger dies

Helene Foellinger, former publisher of The News-Sentinel and president of Fort Wayne Newspapers Inc. and one of Fort Wayne's leading patrons of arts, entertainment and education, died of cancer at 10:15 p.m. Wednesday at Lutheran Hospital. She was 76. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Trinity English Lutheran Church, with burial in Lindenwood Cemetery. There are no calling hours. Arrangements are by Klaehn's Wayne Street Chapel. Preferred memorials are gifts to a charity of the donor's choice. In her 45-year newspaper career, Foellinger increased circulation of The News-Sentinel by more than 30 percent, forged a joint operating agreement that ensured the survival of the rival Journal-Gazette and built a new headquarters for both newspapers. Foellinger was expecting a gradual apprenticeship in newspaper management when her publisher father, Oscar, died Oct. 8, 1936, and she was appointed to succeed him. At 25, she was the youngest publisher in the nation and one of the few women to lead a newspaper. A large chunk of the multimillion-dollar fortune she amassed in newspaper publishing was channeled into dozens of civic and charitable projects through the Foellinger Foundation. Her legacy includes the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, 1100 S. Calhoun St., the Foellinger Outdoor Theater at Franke Park and major gifts to most of the city's arts organizations and the journalism programs at Indiana and Ball State universities. The Foellinger Foundation will continue to provide money to Fort Wayne and Allen County organizations, Walter Helmke, a member of the board, said today.The foundation provided money to any organization Foellinger thought would benefit the community, Helmke said. "There will be no changes in the way the foundation operates," Helmke said. "She has set goals for us, and we hope to do the same things and continue to follow her path for many years." Foellinger received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Tri-State University, Angola, in 1964 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Indiana University in 1977. Foellinger was born Dec. 12, 1910, the first of two daughters of Oscar G. and Esther Anna (Deuter) Foelligner. Oscar Foellinger was a bookkeeper at the Journal-Gazette before World War I. In 1920, two years after The News merged with The Sentinel, he became president and general manager of that combined operation. Young Helene grew up playing in the old News-Sentinel building at Barr and Washington streets (the present home of the United Way) and expected to work in the business. She attended South Wayne School, Miner Junior High and South Side High School. Oscar Foellinger ruled out fashionable Eastern women's colleges for his daughter, fearing she would be corrupted by drinking and cigarette smoking.As a result, Helene Foellinger attended the University of Illinois where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned a math degree in 1932. Of her father's worries, Foellinger, in a September 1985 interview, puckishly remarked that she never smoked but heartily approved of cocktails before dinner. Spirited, occasionally tart-tongued commentary as well as a fondness for Cadillac convertibles were colorful exceptions to an otherwise reserved public persona. In business, Foellinger operated with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Always friendly, particularly to employees, she was notoriously hard-nosed in financial matters. "Yes," she once told a reporter, "I was interested in the bottom line. I had to be, because if I hadn't been, we wouldn't have been in business." Foellinger's premature promotion to publisher demonstrated to her just how fragile life, let alone finances, could be. Foellinger who had just launched the newspaper's women's pages and was counting on further grooming, said youthful cockiness and good help allowed her to succeed. "Looking back on it, people, I guess, thought I was out of my mind. As I look back now," she said in 1985, "maybe I was. You know, when you're young, you sometimes think you can do anything if you have the right people working for you. I was very, very fortunate to have an extremely loyal group of people."Late in life, Foellinger spoke with satisfaction of earning the respect of older male colleagues in the publishing fraternity and the local business community. Although a trailblazer for her gender, Foellinger did not identify with the women's liberation movement. "I happen not to be a feminist " she said, "and I get a little upset with some of these feminists - where there's too much push. I think you have to earn your spurs and be accepted." But she admitted that "it's still pretty much true that it's a man's world." During her first five years as Publisher, News-Sentinel circulation increased from 56,700 to 67,800. In 1950, Foellinger reached a joint operating agreement with the then-ailing Journal-Gazette. She formed Fort Wayne Newspapers Inc. to provide advertising and printing services to both newspapers.Eight years later, she built the newspapers' present quarters at 600 W. Main St. Foellinger, or Miss F., as she was sometimes called, devoted herself mainly to The News-Sentinel's business operations, choosing to wield little day-to-day influence in editorial matters. She prided herself on fostering a warm work environment for her employees."We were sort of like a family," she said. It was her only family; Foellinger never married and leaves no immediate survivors. Her younger sister and only sibling, Loretta Teeple, was killed in a plane crash in 1950. Her mother died in 1969. In 1985, Foellinger explained, "I married my job. I was perfectly willing to sacrifice a great deal, which I'm sure I did." Foellinger quickly steered the 1985 interview toward the accomplishments that had given her pleasure: running a profitable newspaper, philanthropic activity, and, on a more personal level, horseback riding. But she wistfully noted that the absence of heirs prompted the sale of The News-Sentinel and her controlling interest in Fort Wayne Newspapers Inc. to Knight-Ridder Newspapers Inc. in 1980 for about $37 million. "If I had just had a child who would be interested in the business ...," she said. "I did the very best thing I could at the time. I sold it to the group I thought was the very best group." Foellinger remained with The News-Sentinel as a consultant through October 1981, capping 45 years in the newspaper business." In retirement, she continued as the doyenne of local arts but chafed at loss of control of her newspaper. She did not hesitate to criticize changes of which she disapproved in The News-Sentinel. For the past six years, Foellinger spent the bulk of her time at her tree-shaded Old Mill Road home, venturing out mainly for meetings of Civic groups and the Foellinger Foundation. Established in 1958, the foundation has assets of $16 million and has disbursed at least $10 million. The retired publisher's support for the arts was recognized with the Governor's Arts Patron Award, bestowed in a Statehouse ceremony Feb. 10 in Indianapolis. It was her last major public appearance. Foellinger said she enjoyed philanthropy because it provided "the opportunity to see what your money is doing rather than waiting until after you're dead and you can't see what it's done. Think of the fun you've missed.