Talk:Richard S. Newcombe

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Richard S. Newcombe is the founder and chairman of Creators Syndicate, which represents more than 200 writers and artists. Since the company’s founding in 1987, the roster of talent has included Ann Landers, Hillary Clinton, Bill O'Reilly, Hunter S. Thompson, Herblock and the comic strips B.C., Wizard of Id, Archie and Mickey Mouse. Creators Syndicate is located in Hermosa Beach, California, and distributes its content to 2,400 newspapers, magazines, websites, mobile apps and other digital outlets around the world.[1]

Early life Rick Newcombe was born on August 8, 1950, in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Leo Newcombe, served as senior vice president for the newspaper division of Field Enterprises and as general manager of the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times. Leo and Ann Newcombe had eight children, and they lived in Winnetka, Illinois. In 1969, Rick Newcombe was one of the first graduates of La Lumiere School,[2] a high school founded in 1963 in La Porte, Indiana, as a boarding and day school. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was also an early graduate of La Lumiere, which has had fewer than 2,000 graduates since its founding and has become a national basketball powerhouse, ranked in the top 10. Newcombe then attended Georgetown University, where he was one of the founding editors of The Georgetown Voice, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magnum cum laude.

Career Publishing After graduating from Georgetown University in 1972, Newcombe worked as an advertising copywriter at Leo Burnett Worldwide and then as a sales manager in Chicago with Success Motivation Institute, based in Waco, Texas. He studied at night for an MBA at the graduate business school at the University of Chicago. He also worked in sales at David H. Sandler & Associates in Baltimore. From 1974 to 1978, Newcombe worked as a reporter and editor at United Press International. In 1978, Newcombe became vice president and general manager of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, and in 1984, he was named president of News America Syndicate, which then was the third-largest syndicate in the world and owned by Rupert Murdoch. Three years later, Newcombe left News America Syndicate to form Creators Syndicate, an American independent distributor of comic strips, political cartoons and syndicated columns. Creators Syndicate was founded in Los Angeles on February 13, 1987, and moved to Hermosa Beach[3][4][5] in 2012.

Within a few months of forming his syndication company, Newcombe had acquired the syndication rights to Ann Landers,[3] then the world's most widely syndicated newspaper columnist,[3] the comic strip B.C., by Johnny Hart,[6] and the political cartoon works of Herblock,[5] The Washington Post’s legendary editorial cartoonist. In addition to Herblock, Newcombe has also worked with Bill Mauldin, Michael Ramirez, Paul Conrad, Mike Luckovich, Paul Szep and Steve Breen. Creators’ writers and artists have won 17 (???) Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other syndicate.

Creators Syndicate revolutionized the newspaper syndication industry by being the first to allow cartoonists to own the rights to their own creations. Historically, going back to William Randolph Hearst and Popeye and Betty Boop, the syndication company owned all of its cartoons — the names, characters and likenesses. But Newcombe said this was unfair to the cartoonists. Subsequently, all the major syndicates changed their policies and now allow their cartoonists ownership rights. [7]

Over the years, Newcombe has syndicated some of the most influential figures of our time, including Pope John Paul II, Richard Nixon, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Erma Bombeck, Art Buchwald, Joyce Jillson, Jeane Dixon, Sydney Omarr, Carl Rowan, Robert Novak, Dan Quayle and Oliver North. Newcombe also has syndicated Bill O'Reilly, Molly Ivins, Larry Kudlow, John Stossel, Hunter S. Thompson, Arianna Huffington, Tony Kornheiser, Patrick Buchanan, Thomas Sowell, Walter E. Williams, Michelle Malkin, Mona Charen, Ben Carson, Star Parker, Mark Shields and Susan Estrich.

In addition to B.C., Creators comics include Wizard of Id, One Big Happy, Speed Bump, Chuckle Bros, Agnes, Ballard Street, Liberty Meadows, Rubes, The Other Coast, Archie, Long Story Short, Batman, Zorro, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kudzu, Heathcliff, Wee Pals, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He also syndicated The Far Side internationally.

In 2011, Jack Newcombe became president of Creators Syndicate, and together with Rick Newcombe started Creators Publishing and Sumner Books, which have published more than 150 titles. One of their best-sellers is What I Believe, by Ben Carson, and includes an introduction by Rick Newcombe. One of Sumner Books' most successful projects is the “Stories of Success” series by best-selling author Horatio Alger.[8] [9]

Controversies

After 25 years of operating in the city of Los Angeles, Creators Syndicate moved to nearby Hermosa Beach because of a tax dispute with the city of LA. In 1992, Creators and the city had a series of hearings to determine the category of tax classification for the company. Once that was determined, Creators stayed in Los Angeles. But in 2007, the city changed its mind and wanted Creators moved to a much higher tax classification retroactively for five years with interest and penalties. Creators sued the city, and the city settled before the case went to trial. [10]

In 2003, a Creators columnist, Robert Novak, wrote a column about CIA Agent Valerie Plame that caused great controversy. Newcombe was subpoenaed to testify about it at the trial of Scooter Libby. However, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald dropped Newcombe from the case after Novak had explained in the courtroom, while on the witness stand, how the process of syndication works.[11]

Arianna Huffington wrote a column in 1997 that caused much media attention regarding Shelia Lawrence, who filed a $25 million lawsuit against Huffington, the syndicate and a handful of newspapers. Newcombe negotiated a settlement and arranged for Huffington to find a different syndication company. [12]

Author & Hobbyist

Newcombe is also an avid weightlifter, pipe collector and writer. He contributed to the 1983 book The Businessman's Minutes-A-Day Guide to Shaping Up, by former champion bodybuilder and Italian actor Dr. Franco Columbu. He has been lifting weights for most of his life and entered one bodybuilding contest in 1986, placing third in the AAU Mr. Los Angeles Contest. He has been featured in Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines.[14] He is currently writing a book on the benefits of lifting weights after 65. He wrote the book In Search of Pipe Dreams (2003), which was translated into Mandarin and German, titled Der Traum vom Pfeifenrauchen in German (translation: The Dream of Pipe Smoking) (2007). He also wrote Still Searching for Pipe Dreams in 2010. In 2012, Newcombe contributed to the books Scandinavian Pipemakers, by Jan Andersson, and Shoulder Pain? The Solution and Prevention, by Dr. John Kirsch. [13]

Newcombe says that all forms of success in life are the result of setting goals, believing that only positive results will materialize, and having discipline in one’s work to turn dreams into reality. “You never fail as long as you keep trying,” he says. Positive thinking is the cornerstone of how Newcombe leads his life.

References

1- Jump up^ "Southwestern Law School — Faculty Profile". Faculty Profile. Southwestern Law School. 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012. Jump up^ Lange, Katie (April 2007). "La Lumiere Biography, April 2007 Mr. Rick Newcombe". Retrieved 27 September 2013. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Popular Advice Columnist Ann Landers Joins Tribune". Chicago Tribune. February 13, 1987. p. 4. Retrieved August 18,2012. |section= ignored (help) Jump up^ David Astor (January 17, 1987). "Richard S. Newcombe leaves top exec post at NAS". Editor & Publisher 120: 46. 7- 8- 9- 10- 11- 12- 13- 14-

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