February 9, 2011

In 1902, John N. Heiskell became the editor of the Arkansas Gazette when his family bought controlling interest in the Little Rock (Pulaski County) newspaper. He led the paper for more than seventy years, developing it into one of the most respected in the nation. During those years, the nation survived two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War. Even though Heiskell stopped going to the office at age ninety-nine, he continued to have an avid interest in the paper. He died of congestive heart failure in 1972.