NewsBeat

18 NewsBeat August 2018 'It's been a fascinating career' By ANTHONY RIFILATO t's been a fascinating career — I feel very lucky to have lived it," said Cliff Richner, co-owner of Richner Communications and the longtime publisher of Herald Community Newspapers, who retired last month after 36 years in a family- run company that has left an indelible mark on local community news on the South Shore. "I think we've managed to do well, and do some good along the way and help people." Richner, 66, remains an owner of the company with his brother, Stuart, which they joined in 1982 and '83, respectively. "I started working there as a kid in 1964," he said. "I grew up in the business. Now seems like a good time to retire. I leave behind a strong, talented and energetic staff, and I feel like we accomplished a lot. I'm leaving primarily for personal reasons — I want to do some other things that the demands of the job won't let me do, while I'm young enough and healthy enough to do them." I Richner announced the move to the Herald staff before his retirement on June 30. His career spans an ever-changing media landscape that saw the company grow and adapt in a digital age where many other local publications struggled to stay afloat. He also played a lead role in saving the company after a devastating fire threatened to put it out of business in 2004. Today, Herald Community Newspapers boasts the largest community newsroom on Long Island in its Garden City offices, which opened in 2006, and includes a chain of more than 30 weekly publications. Joining the family business A Five Towns native, Richner grew up working in a company owned by his late parents, Robert and Edith, which they purchased in 1964, starting with the Nassau Herald and Rockaway Journal, and operated out of the company's former office at 379 Central Ave. in Lawrence, where newspapers had been produced and printed for 77 years. Leatrice Slote-Spanierman, the company's first executive editor, recalled a boy who was fascinated by the news business. "I invited him to join me in covering a political campaign tour," she said. "He was an enthusiastic 12-year-old and I was on the cusp of being chosen for the top job at the company. I took him along on a lark, and was amazed that with his simple schoolboy camera, he hit the mark, shooting some solid photos. After completing his education, and pursuing a career in the law… we were permanently linked by our shared philosophy that grass roots, community journalism is the purest and most rewarding branch of the media." Richner earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and worked as an attorney at two large law firms in New York City for five years. "I really wasn't enjoying working in a big firm environment, and I had considered other law options," he said. "But ... my father was at the point where he kept saying that if we weren't interested in the newspaper, he was going to sell it. So Stuart and I talked about it, and decided that we'd give it a try." In 1987, Cliff and Stuart were named publisher and president of the company, respectively, and have continued to expand it from a small group of community newspapers to 32 weekly publications, a slew of niche and specialty print and mail products, and a high-volume, commercial print and mail house. The publications span from Long Island to the Bronx. "If all you're looking for is a business opportunity, there's easier ways to make a living," Cliff said. "It's a great opportunity to, as they say, do well and do good. Hopefully we mostly did good." Longtime Herald publisher Cliff Richner, center, with the Herald's Long Island editorial staff at a gathering in June to celebrate his retirement after 36 years in the news business. He will remain an owner of the company that was founded by his parents in 1964. Cliff Richner, longtime Herald publisher, retires after 36 years in the news business Photo Credit: CHRISTINA DALY/HERALD "

• Cover