CANANDAIGUA, NY — Different people will have different ways of remembering George M. Ewing Jr., the former Canandaigua Daily Messenger newspaper president and publisher, said his son, Brendan Ewing.
There is the Mr. Ewing who made his mark in journalism and the communities in Ontario and Monroe counties his newspapers served. There is the philanthropist Mr. Ewing, who gave his time and money at times without fanfare to causes in Canandaigua, Rochester and in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he lived after selling the newspaper and retiring.
There is the Mr. Ewing as educator, a career he embraced before and after his newspaper days but as friends and family say, teaching is what he practiced no matter what he did.
There is the Mr. Ewing who was an English major in college, a fan of literature and poetry and all musical genres, and history buff, who questioned how everything fit together and was genuinely curious about people and their interests.
And there is the Mr. Ewing as father and grandfather, a dad heavily involved in the lives and activities of his three children and later in life, his two grandchildren, Brendan Ewing said.
Different memories for different people, but all who knew him may have a memory of Mr. Ewing in common.
“He was a kind person,” Brendan Ewing said.
Mr. Ewing died unexpectedly July 12 in Minneapolis. He was 72.
George M. Ewing Jr.’s commitment to journalism
Mr. Ewing, who started at the Daily Messenger covering high school sports in his younger years, served as assistant publisher in 1988 before taking over as president and publisher after purchasing the newspaper from his father, George M. Ewing Sr., in 1993. The Sunday edition of the Daily Messenger also debuted during his early years at the helm.
Under Mr. Ewing’s watch, the newspaper saw growth in circulation and revenues, and he oversaw the development of the Messenger’s award-winning website.
The Messenger purchased the former Wolfe Community Newspapers in 1996 and another weekly newspaper from the Samuel J. Smith family shortly afterward. The 10 weeklies in the Monroe County suburbs subsequently carried the name, Messenger Post Newspapers.
Mr. Ewing instilled the newspaper industry mantra “local local” — meaning a focused commitment to news that matters to a community — in the journalists who worked at the daily and weekly newspapers.
Stories could range from a youth hockey game in Canandaigua to a zoning issue in Canadice to a special election in Chili to a road project in Clarkson. If it mattered to a particular community’s readers, it mattered to him — and it mattered to him that journalists get the facts of a story right and to tell the story well.
Steve Martin, retired senior vice president and community affairs director from Canandaigua National Bank, said as publisher, Mr. Ewing held high standards of journalism and never wavered from them.
Content was double and triple checked and based on fact and truth, Martin said.
“That was something that not only I respected but the community and those that read the Messenger respected,” Martin said. “You may agree or disagree, but you respected the fact that what you were reading was based on those standards.”
The result of such efforts? An informed community and its people that made informed decisions, with newspapers that not only covered the stories of communities, but weighed in on the issues affecting these communities and led discussions about exploring ways to improve them.
The dedication to the craft he instilled also paid off in other ways. The Daily Messenger was twice named best newspaper in its class by the New York Associated Press, and several journalists for the daily and weekly newspapers won individual and team awards in a variety of categories throughout his tenure.
As the family noted in Mr. Ewing’s obituary notice, growing pressures on print media from the emerging internet led to the sale of Messenger Post Newspapers, which included the Daily Messenger and 10 weeklies in Monroe County, to GateHouse Media. The deal was finalized in January 2007.
The decision to sell after 47 years of Ewing ownership was “not taken lightly,” Mr. Ewing said at the time.
Throughout his newspaper years, his family said he is remembered by colleagues as an even-tempered, fair-minded boss who treated reporters and press operators like family.
Finger Lakes Community College Director of Public Relations and Communications Lenore Friend started at the Daily Messenger in 1993 and said as publisher, Mr. Ewing was “approachable and kind.”
“I always felt valued as a Messenger employee, and I felt good about working for a family that was so committed to the community,” said Friend, who left the newspaper for the college in 2009.
George M. Ewing Jr.: Committed to family, Canandaigua community
The Ewing name is prominent in Canandaigua, as evidenced by the legacies of Mr. Ewing’s parents, George M. and Marie-Merrill “M.M.” Ewing. A Daily Messenger story on the passing of Ewing Sr. In 2009 (Mrs. Ewing passed away in 2002) described him as a noted philanthropist and an avid community activist.
According to former Canandaigua Mayor Ellen Polimeni, Mr. Ewing was proud of what his family had done in Canandaigua.
His parents were noted for sending handwritten letters and notes, and Polimeni recently bundled up a few written to her and passed them on to Mr. Ewing, who she said made a point of telling her that he appreciated the gesture and planned to pass the letters onto his children so they could learn more about their grandfather.
“I always appreciated all he did to maintain his family’s memory here in Canandaigua after his dad passed,” Polimeni said. “He was someone who really was true to his Ewing family.”
But in his own way, Mr. Ewing also made major contributions to Canandaigua.
“Quietly, he made a big difference, and a lot of people don’t know that,” said David Korpiel, executive director of the Greater Canandaigua Civic Center, which houses an ice rink used by thousands and large special events in the offseason.
Mr. Ewing served on the boards of three Chambers of Commerce and was a Rotary International member. In Rochester, he also served on the board, including a stint as president, of Writers & Books and on the boards of the George Eastman House (now George Eastman Museum) and WXXI Public Broadcasting.
The Canandaigua area institutions that all know and love, such as the Ontario County Historical Society, Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park and so many others, were essential to the Messenger and Mr. Ewing, Martin said.
Editorial or advertising content supporting those institutions would find a way into his “wonderful newspaper,” Martin said.
“He understood the value of community,” Martin said. “Community absolutely was central.”
As a board member and former board president of the Greater Canandaigua Civic Center, Mr. Ewing led two fund drives. Even after he moved to Minnesota, Mr. Ewing still contributed to the Civic Center and would stop by on visits to Canandaigua.
Hockey was a passion of his, and Mr. Ewing jumped right into the planning, concept, building and opening of the Civic Center, Martin said, which ultimately has become an institution in Canandaigua.
“I know he was quite proud of being part of it,” Martin said.
Korpiel considered Mr. Ewing a friend, teacher and mentor, a good man who was community oriented and instilled that trait in him.
Speaking about the Civic Center facility, Ewing told Korpiel: “Take care of the community and it will take care of you.”
“He wanted this place to succeed, and it worked,” Korpiel said. “It’s succeeding today because of what he and a lot of other people envisioned.”
Helping others in Canandaigua, Minnesota
A sports fan, Mr. Ewing, who also enjoyed the outdoors and family trips to the Adirondacks, loved and was very knowledgeable about hockey, playing the sport and coaching youth hockey for years, Korpiel said.
Mr. Ewing was a die-hard San Francisco Giants baseball fan but also held season tickets with the Minnesota Twins.
As he was in Canandaigua, Mr. Ewing was interested and involved in social justice and helping people in Minneapolis.
Mr. Ewing was involved in the former and current iteration of the Neighbor to Neighbor fund, which provides emergency grants on behalf of individuals facing financial difficulties.
The Ewing family attended St. John’s Episcopal Church in Canandaigua, where Mr. Ewing served as lay reader and was a member of the minister search committee. At St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, he taught Sunday school and led youngsters on pilgrimages. He was involved on the church’s building and other committees and worked with a program similar to Neighbor to Neighbor here.
“He always encouraged us at Christmas not to give him gifts but to donate to a nonprofit affiliated with St. Mark’s that helped people get back on their feet,” Brendan Ewing said.
Not one to draw attention to himself, Mr. Ewing shunned the spotlight.
“But he took a real pride in getting things done and making a difference,” his son said.
Many are saddened by the loss, but gladdened of the lives he touched, whether as teacher, friend, newspaperman, family member, philanthropist or, as Martin describes him, “a magnificent human being.”
Mr. Ewing may have ended up living in Minnesota, but many will remember how much he loved and never forgot his Canandaigua roots.
“He was a good man,” Korpiel said. “I can’t speak enough about him.”
Polimeni said Mr. Ewing liked the opportunities to come back to Canandaigua, to see people and reminisce.
Mr. Ewing returned to Canandaigua last fall for the memorial of another community giant, George Hamlin IV, the former Canandaigua National Bank chief executive officer and bank board president who died at 83 last October.
Polimeni said she was fortunate enough to see Mr. Ewing at the memorial and talk with him again.
“He so loves Canandaigua. He has so many fond memories of it,” Polimeni said. “I would characterize him as a true Canandaigua person, someone who loved the community and loved to remember all of his good times here.”
More information on George M. Ewing Jr.’s survivors
In addition to his wife, Rosemary, Mr. Ewing is survived by three sons from his first marriage of 23 years to Meg Reed: Patrick (Sonya) of Burlington, VT; Brendan (Kylie) and their children Oscar and Merrill of Brighton, NY; and Cameron of Brooklyn, NY; brother, Thomas (Caroline) of Keene, NH; niece Claire of Burlington, VT and nephew Ross of Boston, MA; and numerous cousins with whom he was close. He was predeceased by his mother, Marie-Merrill Ewing, in 2002; and father, George M. Ewing, in 2009.
Memorial services will be held in Minneapolis and Canandaigua later this year.
To honor Mr. Ewing’s life, and in lieu of flowers, his family and friends suggest donations to the Neighbor to Neighbor Fund in Canandaigua, and the Dignity Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: ‘A true Canandaigua person’: George Ewing Jr., former publisher of Daily Messenger, dies at 72
Reporting by Mike Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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