He had spent his entire career with the newspaper, and during his tenure, it won a Pulitzer Prize.

09:28 AM EST on Wednesday, December 14, 2005

BY SCOTT MacKAY
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Stephen Hamblett, retired chairman and chief executive of The Providence Journal Co., and former publisher of this newspaper, relentless supporter of community improvements and a quiet but forceful presence in the rebirth of downtown Providence, died yesterday morning at Rhode Island Hospital after a battle against cancer. He was 71.

As publisher, Stephen Hamblett, advocated for several downtown renewal projects.

Hamblett shepherded the transition of The Journal Co. from a privately held, Rhode Island-based company into a media powerhouse that merged with the Belo Corp. of Dallas, Texas, in 1997 to create one of the nation's largest media companies.

A Harvard University graduate who spent his entire career at The Journal and Belo, Hamblett was remembered this week by Belo chairman, president and chief executive Robert W. Decherd as a "renaissance man" whose passions and interests ranged from academia and business to sailing and deep friendships.

Three weeks ago, Decherd visited Hamblett in Providence and found him animated and in his usual good cheer. Hamblett spoke about a trip he had taken in late September on his beloved Hinckley sailboat, Passing Fancy, off the coast of Maine.

"I asked him what it was like and he said, 'It was a little wet.' " recalled Decherd. "The guy's in the middle of chemotherapy . . . and here he was on his boat, soaking wet."

Howard G. Sutton, chairman, president and publisher of The Journal, said that Hamblett will be sorely missed at the newspaper he loved.

"This is a very sad day for the Providence Journal family," said Sutton. "We have lost a compassionate and visionary leader who had a positive impact on thousands of Journal employees and their families."

"While Steve was dedicated to his stewardship of the company that he helped build into a highly respected national multimedia corporation, his family was always first in his heart," said Sutton. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

"For almost 12 years, this avid sailor was chairman, publisher and chief executive of this venerable company," said Sutton. "Steve was our captain as he navigated The Providence Journal through good and difficult times. We will miss his sage advice and wry good humor."

An unpretentious man called "Steve" by both governors and Journal janitors, Hamblett was a canny executive who quietly but persistently pushed such downtown renewal projects as the Rhode Island Convention Center, the Providence Place mall and the proposed Heritage Harbor Museum.

Typical of Hamblett's style was his involvement in construction of the mall, a controversial project in the 1990s. During the 1994 election for governor, Republican Lincoln C. Almond had campaigned against a proposal that would have left state taxpayers with liability if the mall failed.

Worried that Almond's opposition might kill the $500-million retail center, Hamblett and Terrence Murray, then-CEO of Fleet Financial, the region's largest bank, paid a visit to Almond's State House office shortly after his inauguration.

They went to deliver a message from the city's business community -- that bringing high-end retail businesses back to Providence was crucial to the city's redevelopment.

"Almond had campaigned against the mall," Murray recalled. "We felt we had to talk him off that posture. As it turned out, he had an open mind about it."

Once state taxpayer liability was effectively removed from the project, Almond supported it. Today it is filled with holiday shoppers, restaurant patrons and moviegoers.

Hamblett's media career spanned the Eisenhower administration to the administration of the second President Bush, from an era when newspapers were the nation's main transmitters of the news to a time of massive change in an industry that now includes the Internet, 24-hour cable television news, cellular telephones and satellite radio.

A New Hampshire native, Hamblett started selling advertising at The Journal shortly after his graduation from Harvard in 1957.

He took over leadership of the newspaper and The Journal Co. at one of the lowest periods in the 176-year company history: in 1987, after the death in a bicycle accident of his predecessor as publisher, chairman and chief executive, Michael Metcalf, scion of one of Rhode Island's esteemed Yankee families.

Hamblett was a calming influence at a tumultuous time, but he felt deeply about The Journal's place in Rhode Island's civic culture and the newspaper's tradition of high journalistic standards. During his tenure, The Journal captured numerous national and regional journalism awards, and in 1994 won a Pulitzer Prize.

"Steve Hamblett cared deeply about this newspaper and about Providence," said Joel P. Rawson, the newspaper's senior vice president and executive editor. "He was not the kind of man who was vocal about things; his caring was demonstrated through the decisions he made and the people and projects he supported.

"He left The Providence Journal and the city better places than he found them," said Rawson.

In a changing world of media, Hamblett led the company through the sale of its cellular telephone operations; the purchase of King Broadcasting, a media company that operated television stations in the Pacific Northwest; the sale of Colony Communications, The Journal Co.'s cable television operation; taking the privately held company public; and finally, The Journal Co.'s merger with Dallas-based Belo.

"I know that selling The Journal was just a heart-wrenching decision for him," said David Duffy, a Providence public-relations executive who was close to Hamblett. "He really agonized over it."

The Journal was one of the last independent, family-owned newspapers in the United States. Selling its newspaper and TV business to Belo was debated by Journal shareholders, readers and Rhode Island's business and political elite.

Despite The Journal's storied past, Hamblett concluded that in the end, the company was not large or diverse enough to compete in a new environment.

In Dallas, the leadership of Belo -- which publishes The Dallas Morning News, one of the nation's most respected dailies, and also owns television stations -- had come to much the same conclusion, Decherd recalled in a telephone interview from Dallas.

And despite protests by several members of the Metcalf family, Journal shareholders in the end approved the sale overwhelmingly, with 71 percent of eligible votes cast in favor. Belo's board approved the merger, with 91 percent of the shareholders voting in favor.

"I am very pleased that we are merging with a company that I believe is a mirror image of our own," Hamblett told a meeting of stunned employees in Providence when he announced the $1.5-billion deal on Sept. 26, 1996.

Decherd said that the companies had similar cultures, a dedication to high-quality journalism and support for community organizations, "even at the risk of financial expense."

Every Sept. 26, Decherd said, he and Hamblett made sure they spoke by telephone. Both executives always agreed that the merger was a good one, a deal they would do again.

"We chatted and agreed all over again that it was the best decision we each made in our business careers," said Decherd.

After the sale, Hamblett served on the Belo board of directors until last May. Decherd said he made great contributions as a board member, a role that ex-CEOs often find difficult.

"He was a team player. . . . I relied on his advice," said Decherd.

Decherd said one of the things he most admired about Hamblett was his passion for Providence and New England.

Hamblett served on the boards of many local institutions, including the Rhode Island School of Design, Trinity Repertory Company, the Providence Performing Arts Center, the Heritage Harbor Museum, the Providence Foundation and Grow Smart Rhode Island.

When he served on a board, friends recalled, he gave it his all. "He really made himself very available to the leaders of nonprofit groups, most of whom were trying to get on his editorial good side," said Duffy, the Providence public-relations executive.

"He was compassionate and funny and thoughtful and very bright, and he was always an active and contributing member of any board he served on," said Duffy.

He was also approachable and easy to be around, said Duffy: "If you were his friend, he was a really good friend."

He kicked back on his boat, telling stories, smoking cigars and having an occasional Scotch, Duffy said.

"I love the guy," said Anthony Maione, Hamblett's brother-in-law and president of the local United Way chapter. "He had a dry wit and he was always someone you could go to for good advice."

A voracious reader of history and politics, Hamblett enjoyed a spirited intellectual or political joust.

Hamblett was keenly aware of The Journal's place in Rhode Island and the impact it has on politics and culture. In the 1990s, when a group of business leaders pushed to switch the governor's term from two years to four years, as was the practice in most states, Hamblett not only got behind the idea, he ordered a front-page editorial supporting it. Voters overwhelmingly approved the change.

"He continued the practice of putting The Providence Journal into supporting community projects that were worthwhile," said former Gov. Bruce Sundlun. "He was a great supporter of projects and programs that were good for the state."

Hamblett was the son of the late Robert and Helen (Kittredge) Hamblett of Nashua, N.H. His father was a lawyer.

Hamblett was married to the late Julie Ferguson in 1957, in New York City. The couple lived in Barrington and had three children: Mark M. Hamblett, of New York City, and Christopher S. "Topher" Hamblett and Adam M. Hamblett, both of whom live in Barrington. Mrs. Hamblett died of cancer in 1985.

In 1990, Hamblett married Jocelin Gerhardt, of Providence, who survives him. Hamblett is also survived by his stepson, Philip Petteruti, of Needham, Mass.

He is survived by four daughters-in-law: Alicia Hamblett and Martha Hamblett, both of Barrington; Alexandra Hamblett of New York City; and Michele Petteruti of Needham, Mass.

Hamblett is also survived by seven grandchildren: Sophie Hamblett, Lilly Hamblett, Madison Hamblett, Alice Hamblett, and Molly Hamblett, all of Barrington, Islabella Hamblett of New York City; and Benjamin Petteruti, of Needham, Mass.

He is also survived by a brother, Peter Hamblett of Rye, N.H.

Funeral services are private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Stephen Hamblett Fund at the United Way of Rhode Island.