Tribune Co. Exec Richard Litowchak Dead At 69

By: E&P Staff Richard A. Litowchak, a longtime Tribune Co. circulation executive who later became publisher of the Suncoast News in New Port Richey, Fla., has died at age 69, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

In an obituary written by staff reporter Barbara Sherlock, the paper reported Litowchak died May 8 of kidney failure at his home in Palm Harbor, Fla.

A native of Newark, N.J., Litowchak began his newspaper career at the old Newark Evening News and was its circulation manager when it folded in 1972. He joined the Chicago Tribune and in 1974 was named circulation manager of a suburban zone.

When Tribune Co. in 1980 bought the Penny Saver Publications, a group of shoppers in Chicago's south suburbs, he was named vice president of circulation. In 1987, he became general manager of the Suncoast News, remaining at the paper after it was sold by Tribune to Media General. He was publisher from 1991 until 2001 when he retired.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia; a son, Richard; a daughter, Kim Flynn; a sister, Mary Ann Armstrong; a brother, Bobby; and two grandchildren.