Longtime Journalist, Newspaper Owner George R. Sample Jr. Dies at 84

By: Longtime journalist and newspaper owner George R. Sample Jr. has died in northwestern Pennsylvania. He was 84.

Sample's son says his father died today of cardiac arrest at a Pennsylvania hospital.

Sample worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers including the Chicago Sun-Times and Jerusalem Post and was founder of the Sample News Group. The group run by his family owned small newspapers in several states, including the Corry Journal where George was publisher for more than 50 years.

Corry Journal General Manager Bob Williams called Sample an icon and a champion of the common man.

Sample was a graduate of Penn State University, as were 6 of his eight children.

Sample is preceded in death by his wife, Janet, who died in 1998.