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ONWARD

Morley Piper leaves a legacy in the journalism industry with a message to move forward

By Alyssa Choiniere

Morley Piper leaves a legacy in the journalism industry with a message to move forward ...........

Morley Piper signed every note with the same sentiment: “Onward.” His life spanned nearly a century and several distinct eras of journalism. The longtime executive director of the New England Newspaper Association (NENA) died May 12, 2022, at age 97, leaving his mark as one of journalism’s fiercest advocates.

“I think his legacy has been that regardless of what challenges we had coming our way, he always urged us to push onward and for the industry to change and work with the times,” said Al Getler, a close friend and colleague of Piper. “I guess, when you look at

it again, he was the guardian of the newspaper industry in New England.”

Those who worked closely with

Piper had unique stories about his contributions and their memories with him, but several anecdotes were common. They all remembered him as a “gentleman” with an unmatched ability to form connections and for his humorous quips.

“Everyone knew him. Everyone had such great respect for him,” said Terrence Williams, President and COO of The Keene Sentinel in Keene, New Hampshire.

Piper spent 60 years in the journalism industry, starting his career as founder of the Hamilton Wenham Chronicle, a local newspaper, in

1949, after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He went on to work at The Boston Globe for 12 years in the advertising department, serving as clerk of the Newspaper Association Managers for 22 years and spent 45 years with NENA. He won several awards, including the prestigious Yankee Quill award, and was a member of the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame.

“I think he will be known for playing a very important role in advancing New England newspapers and advancing the interests of those papers and being an advocate for the industry,” Williams said. “Those are the things I think of when I think of Morley — how strongly he advocated for newspapers and how much he believed in them.”

Williams first became acquainted with Piper like many other young publishers who were just “getting their feet wet” with publications in New England and across the country. He said Piper was a leader who would “welcome folks into the fold” and share his connections with them.

“He was just a great connector of people. He always seemed to kind of know the trends that the industry was experiencing and the pressures that the industry was experiencing,” Williams said.

Piper’s reach stretched beyond the northeast. Getler was a young

Ohio publisher who had never been to Boston when he first became acquainted with Piper. Getler attributed their first contact to his idea to restructure the newsroom, which he pitched with a risky tagline.

Inspired by James Carville’s famous 1999 comment, “It’s the economy, stupid,” Getler shared his idea to combine the editorial and circulation departments with the line, “It’s the reader, stupid.” He wanted to shift publishers’ focus from writing for the editorial department to writing for the readers.

Soon after pitching his idea, his phone rang. Piper invited Getler on his first trip to Boston to share his idea with New England publishers.

“Morley was always looking for the next thing that was best for the industry,” Getler said.

Getler said he met some resistance when speaking to other industry leaders.

“During Q&A, he stood up and made sure that everyone knew he had my back,” Getler said.

At the time, Getler was in his 30s and recalled the respect Piper gave him. Getler said he never felt foolish in seeking guidance from Piper but always ended their conversations feeling a sense of renewed confidence.

Piper became his mentor and his close friend, Getler said.

“You’re lucky, and you’re blessed in your life when you have one or two people you can really look up to,” Getler said. “When I look at Morley, I was really blessed to have had this guy in my life, to know he was a guy I could lean on and ask questions. It’s a rare thing.”

Getler credited Piper in part with his own successful and varied career. Getler was named Vice President of Business Development for The Weeks Group in 2021 after serving as president and publisher of the Burlington Free Press. He is also a ventriloquist, comedian, firefighter, EMT, speaker and business consultant.

“You don’t have to be a single thing, and a lot of times in the newspaper industry, there are a lot of stodgy opinions about what a newspaper publisher was,” Getler said.

Like many others, Getler called Piper “Chief.”

“He was always dapper, always sharp, always ready for business,”

Getler said.

Michelle Rea, Executive Director of the New York Press Association, first met Piper in the 1970s when she worked for a newspaper in Troy, New York. She said Piper also became close friends with her husband, a longtime men’s clothier when they bonded over their love of fashion.

Rea spoke at Piper’s memorial service to a group of industry leaders, many of whom traveled from other corners of the country to share their respects. She highlighted Piper’s sense of humor with guests, reading emails and notes he sent.

With her husband, he wrote at length about buttonholes and untucked shirts. To Rea, he ended an email saying he was going to meet some “rather comely widows” for lunch but that his daughter would also be joining them because he was worried they “had designs” on him.

“They were hysterical,” Rea said of his emails.

“He was always very impressive. He was a very tall man, always very meticulously attired. He had a presence about him when he walked into the room, but he was very careful with people. He was very respectful. He was very, very witty. He had a dry sense of humor, and he was fun to be around. He was very humble at the same time,” she said.

She said that those characteristics made Piper stand out as a leader who left a lasting impact.

“I don’t know anyone else who was held in such esteem by his peers,” she said.

Piper’s legacy can also be seen through Linda Conway, the current executive director of the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA), Getler said.

“Linda is a person who continues to say ‘yes,’ to being a person open to new ideas,” Getler said.

Getler said she brought varied speakers who represented new ideas in the industry to the last NENPA conference.

“All that is in the spirit of Morley,” Getler said. “Let’s try something new. Let’s try and succeed.”

Piper stayed connected to the industry after his retirement, Conway said, attending events and meeting her for lunch to stay abreast of the latest news. When he was unable to attend a conference or event, she said she always received a note from him wanting to know who the speakers were, who were the stars and who were the flops.

He always knew about job openings and who was the best person to fill the position. Conway said she has heard from many people even outside the journalism industry who credited Piper with launching their careers.

“He lived a long and colorful life. He was 97, and I think that man was sharper at 97 than most people are at 47 or 57,” she said.

Getler also continued meeting regularly with Piper after his retirement. The men would often discuss the industry over lobster rolls, he said.

“We all love this industry. It’s a hard industry to have fallen in love with because there are so many challenges to keep us moving forward,” he said.

He said people sometimes question why he stays in the industry, but like Piper, he knows journalism is critical to the survival of our democracy.

“Every conversation was about how to see it survive and move forward. It needed to survive because it played too important a role in our society,” Getler said. “Onward was the thing that always drove me.”

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