Five Decades at The Press:
An insider tells his story of legendary editor Louis B. Seltzer
and a lifetime of working at The Cleveland Press

Ray De Crane, a reporter and editor at The Cleveland Press for 44 years, is particularly qualified to tell the story of The Press and its legendary editor Louis B. Seltzer. De Crane knew first-hand all the editors and writers during a five-decade period (1932-1977) at The Press.

"I was at the paper during its glory years when it was acknowledged as the leading newspaper in the state of Ohio," says De Crane. (Time magazine in the 1960s named it one of the top papers in the country because of its devotion to reader and community service.)

For 22 of those 44 years, De Crane was at the center of action, an editor on the City Desk, working with one of the outstanding city editors in the country, Louis L. Clifford.

"Fortunately for me," adds De Crane, "I left the paper five years before it suffered the common fate of most evening newspapers in the country - killed by television."

The stories below were written by Ray De Crane in 1998 for The Cleveland Press web site. Click on a topic below to go directly to that story.

The Seltzer Way:

 

The Seltzer spirit: Boundless energy, in touch with community

 

Seltzer service: Help the reader, from cradle to grave

 

Seltzer power: Why he was called "kingmaker"

 

Seltzer style: Impeccable dress, but down-to-earth relations with staff

 

Marion Seltzer: Guardian of good taste

 

Changing of the guard: End of the Seltzer era

 

Other stories to tell:

 

A visit to Ninth & Rockwell: What it was like to work at The Press' longtime home

 

Every paper has its characters; The Press was no exception

 

Why and how a newspaper union got started - at The Cleveland Press

 

Ray De Crane tells of his early years at The Press - starting at age 10 - and how he learned the ropes as a reporter on the police beat

 

Biography of Ray De Crane

 


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Last Updated October 3, 2001