It is fitting that this service is taking place in a
gymnasium, a place of competition. Was
there ever a more competitive man than Frank Batten! I met Frank Batten in 1952 at a newspaper
meeting and we have been friends ever since.
Outside of my family, I know no one I respected, admired and enjoyed
more. Though it’s hard for those of you
who knew Frank well to imagine, we discovered at our first meeting that after
midnight we thought we were both pretty good at singing. Scotch helped. We entered the newspaper business at the
beginning of a golden age. Frank Batten
was the personification of the adage “to whom much is given, much is
expected.” Frank’s business acumen and
success enabled him to give back in so many ways, not just financially - but
the use of his judgment and wisdom in helping organizations and individuals set
and achieve goals.
During his working years I think Frank
Batten was probably the most-respected active newspaperman by other newspaper
people. He was a publisher who knew that
news is paramount to success. When he
was only 27, he became Publisher of The
Virginia Pilot and Ledger Star. In a
few short years Virginia was hit with the massive resistance movement to
desegregation and the public schools were closed. My colleagues were impressed by the personal
leadership that Frank took with other enlightened folks in Norfolk to help
break the “wrong-headed” idea of closing public schools.
As one of the early entrants in the cablevision
world, Landmark set a high bar for the ethical way to get franchises – never
bending the rules to gain an advantage.
Frank was a leader who led by listening
to what others had to say. He
synthesized and massaged the ideas with them until they developed a clear and
concise vision of what needed to be done and how to communicate it. And then his help was crucial in helping to
create an environment that made people want to work together.
Cancer of the larynx took away his
voice and his raucous laugh but not his sense of humor. It also caused him to shelve the idea of a
24-hour TV news channel for cablevision.
While he was recuperating and learning to talk, CNN was launched. He learned to talk so well that folks who
first met him thought he had a bad case of laryngitis. I’ll never forget the story of his being
told that someone was praying for him and his great friend Mort Clark, who had
been badly injured in an accident. Frank
called up Mort and said, “Mort, I found out what happened us – we were prayed
for – the Lord saw how much fun we were having and struck us down” but nothing
could keep either one of them down. The
Weather Channel opportunity came along - he seized it and all of you
know the great success that followed.
In 1982 Frank became the Chairman of
The Associated Press, now the world’s largest news organization. When Frank stepped in, it was a tremendously
important news organization owned by newspapers but was financially insecure. He looked ahead, envisioned what needed to be
done and over the next few years, he set the ship right, identified the key
people to run the organization and The AP became the leader of its competitors.
Frank was comfortable with presidents
and royalty. I remember Frank telling me
that Lyndon Johnson called him at home to thank him for the newspaper’s
endorsement – Frank said he thought it was Brad Tazewell pulling his
chain. Later he traded quips with
President Reagan at The White House and introduced former President Nixon at a
luncheon – Frank said Nixon never talked during lunch but made notes and then
spoke without once needing to refer to them.
At one point, The Associated Press Board met in England and Frank
introduced Princess Anne at the Guild Hall to a glittering array of folks,
including all the media swells in England.
Princess Anne proceeded to tear the hides off of the media barons like
Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell for their treatment of the royal family.
Frank was a fabulous man who did extraordinarily fabulous
things in a low-key way. He sailed,
skied, hunted, played tennis and golf. Frank had a lot of virtues – patience
with himself was not one of them. After
a 20-year layoff, Frank returned to golf, probably because he got tired of
losing to folks at tennis and had a bad shoulder. He never could understand why he couldn’t get
his handicap under 10. I remember one
time we were playing with our wives and Frank 4-putted after lining up each of
the putts forever. He got so angry that
he whirled around and tripped and fell down.
Nothing like a media mogul sprawled on his ass in the grass.
Frank took great pride in the success
of others, in particular when Frank, Jr. hit a homerun with his investment in
Red Hat. Frank wrote the Board of
Directors telling us that his son had proposed that Landmark make an investment
in Red Hat but the father thought it was a bad idea for Landmark so Frank, Jr.
did it personally.
We all know the various adages about
husbands and wives. Frank married Jane
when she was young enough that he thought she was trainable. Well, he was right, there was an opportunity
for training and boy, did she ever do a job on him – no question about it.
We shouldn’t mourn Frank Batten – his last months were painful - but we will. We all will surely miss his great sense of humor and quick smile - and his willingness and his innate desire to help others. We are all better for having known Frank Batten.
