Columbia Features said to have folded p.32

By: Editorial Staff COLUMBIA FEATURES apparently is out of business after 41 years.
Two former Columbia columnists, speaking on background, said they believe that the medium-sized syndicate has folded.
The phone was disconnected at Columbia's New Smyrna Beach, Fla., office and at the Long Island, N.Y., office or home of Columbia president Bruce Brown.
Brown purchased a stake in Columbia two years ago (E&P, Aug. 8, 1992, p. 30). At the time, he said he was an entrepreneur and founder of Atlantic Partners Inc., a New York-based private investment company. Brown formerly was a vice president at Henry Ansbacher Inc., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions of newspapers and other media businesses.
Columbia's previous owner, Robert Ferguson, also could not be reached for comment. He purchased the syndicate in 1987 after serving as managing editor at Tribune Media Services and continued as Columbia's editor after Brown succeeded him as president in 1992.