Alicia Patterson | |
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 | |
| Born | (1906-10-15)October 15, 1906 |
| Died | July 2, 1963(1963-07-02) (aged 56) |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouses | |
| Father | Joseph Medill Patterson |
Alicia Patterson (October 15, 1906 – July 2, 1963) was an American journalist, and cofounder and editor ofNewsday. WithNeysa McMein, she created theDeathless Deer comic strip in 1943.
Patterson was the middle daughter of Alice (née Higinbotham) andJoseph Medill Patterson,[1] the founder of theNew York Daily News,[2] and a great-granddaughter ofJoseph Medill,[1] owner of theChicago Tribune.[3][a] Her mother's father was Harlow Higinbotham, partner ofMarshall Field's Department Store in Chicago.[3][4] Patterson's sisters were Elinor (1904–1984)[1] and Josephine Medill Patterson Albright (1913–1996).[5]
The family lived on a farm inLibertyville, Illinois in her earliest years, during a period when her father eschewed capitalism. He returned to the publishing world in 1910, as editor of theChicago Tribune.[3] He sent Patterson to Germany to live with a family and learn German when she was four years old.[3] During her childhood, Patterson's father taught her daring sports, like high diving and jumping while horseback riding, to test her courage.[3]
Patterson attended theFrancis Parker School andUniversity School for Girls in Chicago. She was then sent tofinishing schools in Maryland andLausanne, Switzerland, from which she was expelled for violating the rules.[3] She attended theFoxcroft School in Virginia, where she finished second in her class, and was then sent to a school in Rome where she was expelled for behavior issues.[3] At age 19 years, she had hercoming-out party in Chicago, after having spent a year in Europe with her mother and sister.[3]
Patterson's half-brother,James Joseph Patterson (1922–1992), was the son of Joseph Patterson and Mary King (1885–1975),[1] who married in 1938, the same year Joseph and Alice's divorce was finalized.[6]
Patterson marriedJames Simpson, Jr., the son of Marshall Field's chairman of the board, according to her father's bidding. The couple lived together only one year and were divorced in 1930.[3] During that period, she learned how to fly a plane with her father and hunted game in Indochina.[3] In 1931 she marriedJoseph W. Brooks and was divorced in 1939.
In 1939,[7] she married her third husband,Harry Guggenheim,[8][7] who had been a United States ambassador to Cuba.[8] Guggenheim was on active duty for the military during World War II, during which time Patterson ranNewsday. When Guggenheim returned, he ran the administrative aspects of the business.[2] While she was married to Guggenheim, Patterson had a long-running affair withAdlai Stevenson, governor of Illinois and two-time Democratic nominee for president.[9]
She worked in the promotion department of her father'sDaily News in 1927, before being assigned as a reporter. She socialized with other young reporters atspeakeasies and misspelled the names of the parties involved in a high-profile divorce case, for which the newspaper was sued for libel. She returned to Chicago after she was fired,[3] then marriedHarry Frank Guggenheim, who wasJewish.[8]
Patterson also had a career in comics, creating the characterDeathless Deer withNeysa McMein. It ran in theBoston Herald[10] and theChicago Tribune in 1943.[11]
Harry Guggenheim used a portion of the Guggenheim family's fortune[8] to help his wife purchase a newspaper in Hempstead and foundNewsday in 1940.[7] Guggenheim awarded 49% of the paper's stock to his wife, and retained 51% for himself.[7]Newsday's use of investigative journalism, "lively style", and coverage of liberal and international politics led it to become a respected newspaper.[8] In 1954, it won the Pulitzer Prize and became the country's largest suburban newspaper. Patterson used the paper as a vehicle to create an identity for Long Island.[2]
According to Marilyn Elizabeth Perry:
Patterson died aged 56, of complications following stomach surgery for an ulcer, on July 2, 1963.[13] Her ashes are interred at her hunting lodge inKingsland, Georgia.[14]
John Steinbeck, Patterson's friend since 1956, wrote a series of articles in the form of "Letters to Alicia" forNewsday following her death. In them he expressed his controversial views, such as his support for PresidentLyndon B. Johnson's handling of theVietnam War and his perception of moral decline within the United States.[2] The series was written at the request of Harry Guggenheim, who became the editor of the newspaper following Patterson's death,[2] with Patterson's nephew,Joseph Albright, working as his assistant editor.[13][b]
Patterson was memorialized byJoan Miró'smural,Alicia, at the Guggenheim Museum, proposed by Harry F. Guggenheim, who was then president of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.[15]
TheAlicia Patterson Foundation, created in accordance with her will, presents an annual prize to mid-career journalists.[7]
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