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Helen Rogers Reid

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Helen Rogers Reid
Helen Rogers Reid, 1921
Born
Helen Miles Rogers

(1882-11-23)November 23, 1882
Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedJuly 27, 1970(1970-07-27) (aged 88)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materBarnard College
OccupationPresident of the New York Herald Tribune
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1911; died 1947)​
Children3, including Whitelaw, Ogden
Parent(s)Benjamin Talbot Rogers
Sarah Louise Johnson
RelativesWhitelaw Reid (father-in-law)

Helen Miles Rogers Reid (November 23, 1882 – July 27, 1970)[1] was an American newspaper publisher. She was president of the New York Herald Tribune.[2]

Early life

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Helen and Ogden Reid, 1920

Reid was born Helen Miles Rogers in Appleton, Wisconsin on November 23, 1882.[3] She was the daughter of Benjamin Talbot Rogers, a prominent merchant, and his wife Sarah Louise (née Johnson) Rogers.[4] She was the youngest of eleven children including: Minna Rogers Winslow, James Carson Rogers, Grace Eleanor Rogers, the Rev. Benjamin Talbot Rogers Jr.,[5] Annette Rogers, and Florence Rogers Ferguson.

Career

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She graduated with an A.B. from Barnard College in 1903.[2] She became social secretary for Elisabeth Mills Reid, the wife of Whitelaw Reid (1837–1912), the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain and France and 1892 Republican vice presidential candidate.[6][3] She worked for Mrs. Reid for eight years, spending time in the United Kingdom and the United States.[7] She then married her son Ogden Mills Reid.[8]

In 1918, six years after her father-in-law died, her husband brought her in and she began working at the New-York Tribune, becoming an advertising solicitor.[1] Instrumental in merging the New-York Tribune with the New York Herald, she took over as president on the death of her husband in 1947.[3][9] In her obituary, The New York Times described her as follows:

Mrs. Reid was an unflamboyant but powerful force in the newspaper world and in the city's civic and social life. Her business acumen, first displayed as an advertising salesman, and her editorial judgment, in making the paper attractive to women and suburban readers, helped to transform The Herald Tribune into a modern newspaper.[1]

She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1950.[10] An active supporter of her alma mater, she served for nine years as chairman of the board of trustees, and in 1963, she helped raise funds for a dormitory at Barnard, which was then named for her.[11] She was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, active in the New York Newspaper Women's Club, and was president of the Reid Foundation, an organization funded and established by her husband to give journalists fellowships to study and travel abroad.[1]

Personal life

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In 1911,[12] Reid married Ogden Mills Reid (1882–1947) the son of her employer Elizabeth Mills Reid[8] at the Racine College Chapel in Racine, Wisconsin.[3][13]

Reid died in New York on July 27, 1970.[3] Her funeral, presided over by The Right Rev. Paul Moore Jr., the Bishop of New York, was attended by over 300 people and held at St. Thomas Church, followed by burial next to her husband at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York.[16] Besides family, the funeral was attended by John Hay Whitney, who purchased The Herald Tribune, August Heckscher, the Parks Commissioner who was chief editorial writer, Mayor John Lindsay, David Rockefeller, Robert Moses, former head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, Andrew Cordier, the president of Columbia University, and Kingman Brewster Jr., the president of Yale University.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "MRS. OGDEN REID DIES HERE AT 87". The New York Times. July 28, 1970. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Sicherman, Barbara; Hurd Green, Carol (1980). Notable American women: the modern period : a biographical dictionary, Volume 4. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press. pp. 574–5. ISBN 0-674-62732-6.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Helen Rogers Reid, Former Publisher of Tribune, Dies". Standard-Speaker. July 28, 1970. p. 24. Retrieved January 2, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ Signorielli, Nancy, ed. (1996). Women in Communication: A Biographical Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 312. ISBN 0313291640. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  5. ^ "Rev. B. T. Rogers of St John's Dies". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 22, 1934. p. 9.
  6. ^ Times, Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph To The New York (December 16, 1912). "WHITELAW REID DIES IN LONDON; Editor and Diplomat Passes Away at Dorchester House After Brief Illness". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  7. ^ Noxon, Frank W. (June 26, 1920). "Take Three—New York's Big Three". The Fourth Estate. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "OGDEN MILLS REID OF HERALD TRIBUNE DIES OF PNEUMONIA; Ogden Mills Reid Dies of Pneumonia". The New York Times. January 4, 1947. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  9. ^ Krismann, Carol H. (2005). Encyclopedia of American Women in Business: M-Z. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 458. ISBN 0-313-32757-2. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  10. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter R" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  11. ^ "Reid Hall". barnard.edu. Barnard College. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  12. ^ "Ogden M. Reid Gets Marriage License". The New York Times. February 26, 1911. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  13. ^ "OGDEN MILLS REID WEDS.; Son of Ambassador Whitelaw Reid Married to Miss Helen M. Rogers". The New York Times. March 15, 1911. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  14. ^ a b McFadden, Robert D. (April 19, 2009). "Whitelaw Reid, Heir to New York Herald Tribune, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  15. ^ "REID, Ogden Rogers - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  16. ^ a b "MRS. REID'S RITES ATTENDED BY 300". The New York Times. July 31, 1970. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
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