In Memoriam: Frank Wood

Longtime Door County Advocate publisher Frank Wood died May 27 at the age of 82.

Wood bought the Advocate in 1984 but is best known for operating the Green Bay News-Chronicle, which competed with Gannett Company’s Green Bay Press-Gazette, former Advocate reporter Joe Knaapen said.

Frank Wood

A humanities professor at St. Norbert College, Wood exuded wisdom, according to former Advocate Editor Jon Gast.

“When he was [in the office], he was always a very quiet individual,” Gast said. “He was very contemplative and if you sat in a meeting…a lot of times he wouldn’t say a lot for awhile but…you knew when he was going to say something it was going to be pretty profound.”

Wood owned and operated publications in De Pere, Denmark, Luxemburg, Oconto, Algoma, Kewaunee and Green Bay, in addition to the Advocate, according to the De Pere Journal.

Because of his busy schedule, Wood did not visit the Advocate office much. But despite his absence, Gast said Wood always made himself accessible.

Wood promoted Gast to Editor of the Advocate in 1988, even though Gast considered himself “pretty young at the time.”

“He gave me a lot of responsibility and he basically let me do my own thing,” Gast said. “Frank really put a lot of trust and faith in his employees and because of that we all tried to do the best we could for him and for his publication.”

After battling with Gannett Co. for years, Wood sold most of his newspaper properties – including the Door County Advocate – to the media conglomerate, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, in 2004.

He will be remembered as a caring man who held journalism and his publications in high esteem, Gast said.

“He really was the last of his kind in a lot of respects – that small-town publisher you don’t see too much of anymore.”