Up for auction a RARE! "Knight-Ridder Newspapers" John S. Knight Hand Signed 3X5 Card. 

 ES-6426E

John

Shively Knight (October

26, 1894 – June 16, 1981) was an American newspaper publisher and editor based in Akron, Ohio. Knight was born in Bluefield, West Virginia,

to Charles Landon Knight and

Clara Irene Shively. Known to his family and friends as "Jack," he

attended Cornell University but

never graduated, leaving early to enlist in the Army. While at Cornell he

was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

However, he later received the degree of "War Alumnus." In 1920 he

started at his father's newspaper, The Akron Beacon Journal, as sportswriter, and moved up to managing

editor before inheriting the paper in 1933. In 1923, Knight served as the

fourth president of the Akron Host Lions Club. Beginning a nationwide

expansion, Knight bought the Miami Herald in 1937. His national Knight Newspapers

chain, headquartered in Akron, eventually also included the Philadelphia

Inquirer, Chicago Daily News, Charlotte Observer, Tallahassee Democrat,

Lexington Herald and Leader, and Macon Telegraph. During the latter part of World

War II, Knight took a leave from the newspaper business, serving as Director of

the U.S. Office of Censorship, in

London.

By 1973, his portfolio included fifteen newspapers. A year later, 1974,

he merged his company with Ridder Publications to form Knight-Ridder Newspapers Inc. He co-founded what would become

the John S. and

James L. Knight Foundation with his brother James L. Knight.