It can be said, with a high degree of accuracy, that they were the quintessential odd couple: A college professor and marketing genius, the other his former student with a ton of perseverance and a knack for selling newspaper ads for Thomson Newspapers in KirklandLake, Brampton and Cornwall, where he was the daily’s sales director, suffering under a difficult publisher, Don Tomchick.
In 1985 Dick Aubry, the marketing whiz, and Rick Shaver, the consummate salesman, teamed up to launch a weekly newspaper, the one you are reading.
For Shaver, it was a leap of faith, but too great of an opportunity to pass up.
Nay-sayers said it wouldn’t last. A large, powerful newspaper chain with unlimited resources did its best to make sure it didn’t.
But last it did.
Within a year of its launch, the Seaway News had become not only a thorn in the side of the highly-profitable Standard-Freeholder (it was said to be the fifth most profitable daily in the large Thomson Newspapers stable), but was flirting with profitability.
Co-founder and publisher Aubry said he recognized a window of opportunity back in the 1980s while teaching at St. Lawrence College. The S-F had the (advertising) market pretty much to itself and the market was crying out for a competitor.
An upstart weekly was not going to put the S-F on its financial knees, but there were cracks in its armour that could be exploited. Aubry and Shaver were the right mix at the right time to pull it off.
“We complemented each other,” said Aubry.
After he quietly recruited Shaver, the two spent months putting together a business plan.
Then with a bank loan of $50,000 and seed money from “seven or eight” family members, the first edition came off the press. It was full-steam ahead.
In a twist of irony, for a few months in the 1990s the Seaway News was printed on the Standard-Freeholder press.
In 1994 the paper was sold to Unimedia, headed up by veteran Quebec journalist Jacques Francoeur who developed a solid working relationship with Aubry and Shaver. After Francoeur’s death in 2005, the paper was sold to TC Media. When Aubry retired three years later, Shaver stayed on and moved into the wheelhouse. The paper continued to thrive under his command.
The Cornwall Living magazine became an award-winning (and profitable) product.
Shaver became a mover and shaker in the Ontario Community Newspaper Association, serving as president in 2007, and spent several years on the Canadian Community Newspaper Association board of directors.
In 2022, Shaver was inducted into the Community Newspaper Hall of Fame.
His long list of awards and honours include the Canadian Community Newspaper “President’s Quill” for outstanding service to the newspaper industry, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Kinsmen National President Recognition Award for Community service and the Chamber Lifetime Achievement Award.
The one honour that somehow overlooked all his career achievements and faithful community service has been the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award.
Looking back, Shaver called it a rewarding career, filled with challenges and successes.
“Never missed an edition, not even during the ice storm,” he noted.
On Thursday, April 25, after logging 45 years in the newspaper business – 39 with the News – Shaver punched his well-deserved retirement ticket and turned the key to the publisher’s office over to his successor, Richard Mahoney.
Talk about an enormous pair of boots to fill!
“I’m going to be busy doing nothing … at least for a while,” he said with a chuckle.
Looking back at his lengthy record of community service, it’s a good bet his phone will start ringing.
THIS AND THAT: Laura Trump, The D’s daughter-in-law who heads up the Republican National Committee (NAC), told Fox News that the organization has filed lawsuits in 81 states. Yup, 81 states. … Thoughts with Bob “The Fog” Vass who is making a slow but steady recovery after surgery. … One of the great Senate reforms touted by the Justin Trudeau government is the appointment of “independent” senators. But one has to wonder how independent a senator can be when the offer comes in a phone call from the PM? … Think things are bad now on the family doctor front, according to the Ontario College of Family Physicians it is going to get worse before it gets better. The College predicts that the number of Canadian families without a family doctor will climb to five million from 2.3 million in the next five years.
LIFE AND TIMES: Few would disagree that Paul-Andre Durocher was a gush of spiritual fresh air when he succeeded the autocratic Eugene LaRocque as bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall Diocese. This writer’s first introduction to the new bishop came at the Ed Lumley Roast at the civic complex a couple of weeks after Durocher arrived in 2002. The cleaning staff at Nav Canada was on strike for better wages and working conditions, at the same time the Canadian Conference of Canadian Bishops was booked in at the centre. It was noted, in a column, that the bishops arrived in black chauffeured-driven limos that passed through the picket lines with windows rolled up. Our column was critical of the bishops for not at least walking up the long driveway and offering some words of encouragement. I spotted Durocher at the pre-dinner gathering and he spotted me. As he approached, I figured he was coming over to give me an earful. What a surprise. After introducing himself, “Hi,I’m Paul-Andre,” he told me he agreed with column. “I told them (bishops) we should have done better,” he said. To wit I said a silent “Amen!”
TRIVIA: Which of these Ontario premiers did not have a law degree: 1) Kathleen Wynne, 2) William Davis, 3) Frank Miller, 4) Ernie Eves, 5) Mike Harris.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Prime Minister Lester Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.
QUOTED: We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one. – Confusius
