PHOENIX (AP) – Sue Clark-Johnson, a pioneering figure in the newspaper industry who served as publisher of the Arizona Republic and Reno Gazette Journal during a lengthy career at Gannett Co., has died. She was 67.
The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday that Clark-Johnson died after a short illness.
Clark-Johnson’s career in the newspaper business spanned more than four decades, including becoming the first female head of the newspaper division of Gannett. She had that job from 2005 to 2008 before she retired.
She rose to the top ranks of the U.S. newspaper business in an era when very few women were serving in top management posts in the industry, landing her first publisher job in 1977.
“Sue was a true pioneer as a top newspaper executive at a time when precious few women held those positions. She was extraordinarily smart, gracious and graceful. But when she needed to be, she could be fierce and as tough – or tougher – than any man in the boardroom,” said Christopher Callahan, dean at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.