Lerner, Leo A. (Leo Alfred), 1907-1965

Leo Lerner (1907-1965) was an American newspaper editor and publisher. Born in Chicago on September 20, 1907 (the eldest of ten children), he attended the Chicago Public Schools, Crane Technical High School and Northwestern University, finishing there in 1928 with the help of a scholarship. In 1929 he married Deana Duskin, with whom he had three children, Louis, Robert and Rosanne.

In addition to their home on Marine Drive in Chicago, the Lerners owned the Kettle Moraine Farm in North Lake, Wisconsin.

Leo Lerner's career in the newspaper business began while he was still attending Northwestern University, when he was Night Editor of the Daily Northwestern for two years and Drama Editor for a like period. During the period 1924-28, he filled various editorial positions on the Morton Grove News, the Lincoln Belmont Booster and the North Side Sunday Citizen . He then became a co-partner of A. O. Caplan in the management of sixteen papers, which included most of the earlier group and were known as the Myers Newspapers, with a total circulation at that time of 219,000. Other papers were slowly added. By 1949, after more reorganization, Lerner was President and Treasurer of the group ever since known as the Chicago Northside Newspapers. Growth continued, and by 1958 Lerner was President, Editor, and Publisher, controlling the Myers Publishing Co., the Lincoln Belmont Publishing Co., the Times Home Newspapers (J. L. Johnson Publishing Co.) and the Neighbor Press of Chicago. The following is a list of papers published by the various divisions of the Chicago Northside Newspapers:

Booster Newspapers: The Booster Lincoln-Belmont Booster Lake View Booster Sheridan Center Booster The Sunday Booster Times Home Newspapers: Jefferson Park Times Mayfair Times Norwood-Edison Times Portage Park Times Higgins-Oriole Times Logan-Armitage Booster, which split into Logan Avondale Booster, and Armitage Avenue Booster North West Sunday Times Albany-North Park Times Myers Newspapers: Edgewater Uptown News Ravenswood-Lincolnite News North Town News Rogers Park News North Side Star Life of Niles Township (Thursdays only)

Lerner was deeply involved in public service throughout his life and was active in many social and civic organizations in the Chicago area. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library on November 13, 1936, and remained until 1947, serving as Director after 1943 and greatly expanding and improving the service. In 1940-1941 he was President of the Citizens Schools Committee, which was instrumental in combating corruption and raising the educational standards in Chicago. He was a member of the Americans for Democratic Action, a founder of the liberal Independent Voters of Illinois (1943), a director of the Lincoln-Belmont YMCA, and a member of various hospital improvement groups. During World War II he sponsored and aided a number of European refugees to the United States. He was a member of the Cancer Prevention Center of Chicago from 1958 until his death, serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 1962.

Lerner also helped found Roosevelt University, and taught a journalism course there. From 1950 to 1960 he served as president of its Board of Trustees. In 1960 he joined the Board of Trustees of the Scandinavian Seminar, a plan providing nine months of study in any Scandinavian country for qualified students. In 1962, Lerner became a member of the Board of the Chicago Better Business Bureau, and in March of that year he was appointed to the Illinois Parole and Pardon Board. In 1964 President Johnson invited him to join the Citizens Advisory Board of the Community Relations Service.

Active in professional organizations, Lerner was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Commission in 1955, the Illinois Press Association, National Editorial Association, American Political Science Association, and the Institute of General Semantics. Much in demand as a speaker and author, he also wrote a large number of speeches and articles, and four books: Continental Journey, written during his 1947 tour of Europe, The Itch of Opinion (1956), The Italics Are Mine (1960), and The Truth Ripens, finished just before his death. In addition, he was co-author of Lincoln of the Ages (1960).

Lerner was recognized many times for his contributions both to journalism and to the civic and social life of Chicago. He was the only neighborhood newspaperman accredited by the State Department to cover the United Nations Conference at San Francisco in 1945, and the following year he received the Decalogue Society of Lawyers' Annual Award of Merit. 1961 brought him the Chicago Medal of Merit, presented by Mayor Daley. In 1937 he received the first Editorial Award presented by the Illinois Press Association. He also was the recipient of the National Herrick Award in 1951 and the Publisher of the Year Award in 1953.

From the guide to the Leo A. Lerner Papers, 1929-1968, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)