Sam McKeel, 97, of Gladwyne, former publisher of The Inquirer and Daily News, retired president and chief executive officer of the Sun-Times Co. in Chicago, former general manager of the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio, onetime reporter for the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina, longtime civic advocate, mentor, and Navy veteran, died Tuesday, May 7, of complications from a stroke at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Mr. McKeel was general manager, president, publisher, and chairman for Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., then owners of The Inquirer and Daily News, from 1971 to 1989. He played senior leadership roles in the company’s struggle for financial survival in the 1970s and subsequent rapid growth in the 1980s. He was hired as general manager at The Inquirer and Daily News in 1971, became president in 1975, and was named publisher of the papers and chairman of PNI in 1986.
