HARRY NAETER WAS ADVOCATE FOR NEWSPAPER AND COMMUNITY

Harry A. Naeter Jr. was a good friend to Cape Girardeau. We mourn his death but celebrate his lasting contributions to our city. His love of Cape Girardeau lives on in the daily pages of the Southeast Missourian -- a newspaper his uncles founded and he carried forward.

Harry Naeter grew up with printers' ink on his hands. From paper boy to publisher, he worked in every department of the newspaper. As publisher and owner from 1965 to 1976, he trumpeted numerous causes. He loved this town and worked hard to make it better.

For years, the Naeter name was synonymous with newspapers.

Ninety years ago, the Naeter brothers -- Fred and George -- took a World's Fair excursion down the Mississippi River. It brought them to Cape Girardeau where they found a defunct newspaper for sale. The price of the Daily Republican was $1,800. The brothers borrowed $425 from friends to seal the deal.

When the Naeter brothers plunged into Cape Girardeau coverage, they faced fierce competition. There were two daily papers and one weekly in Cape Girardeau, three weeklies in Jackson, one in Oak Ridge and one in Whitewater.

But the Naeter publication was different.

From the start, it focused on local news and happenings, a change from most other papers of the time.

Harry Jr. never really knew his father, who died from complications of minor surgery when the boy was just 8 months old. But he walked in the footsteps of a man who helped change the news operations of this paper.

Politically, the Naeter brothers supported the Republican platform and that stance was reflected in the pages of the Daily Republican. But partisan politics were pushed aside in 1918 when the newspaper became an independent. The change was urged by Harry Sr., and about a week after his untimely death, the brothers made it so. As the policy changed, so did the name. The Southeast Missourian was born.

What kind of a man was Harry Naeter Jr.?

He was a retiring man, never seeking the limelight. He preferred to work behind the scenes to get things done.

One former employee called him "one of the kindest men" she had ever known. He cared about his workers and the people of Cape Girardeau.

He had a marvelous way with words, although he wrote infrequently for the paper.

He lived and breathed the newspaper business and had visions of expanding operations. Under his leadership, the newspaper won numerous state and national awards.

He continued to be interested in writing and publications even after he sold the newspaper to the Thomson group in 1976. In recent years, he had looked at starting a magazine, but it never got off the ground.

He had a natural bent toward gardening, perhaps inherited from his great-great-grandfather, who was a gardener for Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm.

He was also a dedicated patron of the arts as a supporter of the annual Missourian art exhibit, and an avid art collector. He led the effort to include the works of well-known professional artists in the local show. He donated four interior murals from the Southeast Missourian offices to the Cape River Heritage Museum.

He was loyal to his family.

Harry Naeter Jr. represented Cape Girardeau well at state and national levels. He lunched at the White House with President John F. Kennedy and a few other publishers. Later, when he served as president of the Missouri Press Association in 1971, he traveled to the White House again for a reception with then President Nixon.

Harry Naeter Jr. was proud of his newspaper heritage. We're proud of his contributions to this city and the Southeast Missourian.