Paul_Block
Paul Block
Advertising rep and publisher (1875–1941)
Paul Block (November 2, 1875 – June 22, 1941) was president of Paul Block and Associates (later Block Communications) and publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade.[1]
Paul Block | |
|---|---|
Left is Joseph Johnson, commissioner of public works of New York City, New York's Mayor Jimmy Walker and the right is Block. | |
| Born | November 2, 1875 Königsberg, East Prussia |
| Died | June 22, 1941(1941-06-22) (aged 65) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Newspaper publisher |
| Spouse | Dina Wallach |
| Children | William Block Paul Block Jr. |
![](./File:New_York's_dapper_Mayor_calls_on_President_Coolidge._Dapper_"Jimmie"_Walker,_mayor_of_New_York_City_leaving_the_White_House_today_after_calling_on_President_Coolidge._On_the_left_is_Joseph_LCCN2016888710.jpg){kind=link}
Block was born on November 2, 1875, to a poor Lithuanian Jewish family in Königsberg, East Prussia.[2] In 1885, his parents immigrated to Elmira, New York, where his father worked as a ragpicker.[3] Block attended Elmira public schools[1] and at the age of 10, he worked as a part-time newsboy and office messenger with Harry Brooks, the founder of the Elmira Telegram, where he learned the newspaper business.[3] In 1900, he left the Elmira Telegram and formed his own advertising rep firm which sold national advertising for client newspapers, Block Communications,[4] and is credited with pioneering the concept of national news advertising. He developed a close friendship and business relationship with William Randolph Hearst frequently serving as a frontman for Hearst's newspaper acquisitions[3] (Block's mistress Marion Davies would become Hearst's mistress and Block would later serve as Hearst's executor)[3] as well as purchasing several papers outright beginning with the Newark Star-Eagle and the Detroit Journal.[3] In 1926, he acquired the Toledo Blade and in 1927, he created the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.[5] He went on to own 14 papers.[3]
Block was a close friend of New York City mayor Jimmy Walker (often letting Walker use his apartment for liaisons with his mistress Ziegfeld Follies dancer Betty Compton) and president Calvin Coolidge.[3] Block also played a key role in advancing the career of future president Franklin D. Roosevelt by supporting his 1928 campaign for governor.[3]
Block was active in Jewish philanthropy and headed the 1931 campaign of the New York Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies.[1]
He was married to Dina Wallach;[6][7] they had two sons:[1] William Block and Paul Block Jr. Block died of cancer in 1941;[3] funeral services were held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.[1]
- Brady, Frank (2001). The Publisher: Paul Block: A Life of Friendship, Power and Politics. University Press of America. pp. xiii, xxiii. (Brady rejects Block's claim of having been born in Elmira, New York in 1877.)
- Block Communications Website Archived 2015-02-08 at the Wayback Machine retrieved December 1, 2014
