Charles S. Rowe, the former editor and co-publisher of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star newspaper, died March 13 at a hospital in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 89.
The cause was urosepsis, said a son, Charles Rowe Jr.
At 24, Mr. Rowe took over as co-publisher of the Free Lance-Star in Virginia with his brother, Josiah P. Rowe III, after their father, Josiah P. Rowe Jr., died of a heart attack in 1949. Charles Rowe led the newsroom while his brother managed the advertising, business, circulation and production departments. They added WFLS radio station in Fredericksburg in 1960.
Charles Rowe sold his half of the business to his brother when he retired in 1997, and the family continued to manage the newspaper and its affiliated radio stations until 2014. That year, the newspaper filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by the New York investment firm Sandton Capital Partners.
Charles Spurgeon Rowe was born May 28, 1925, in Fredericksburg. He was a 1941 graduate of James Monroe High School, where he was valedictorian, and received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington and Lee University in 1947. During World War II, he served in the Navy in the Pacific.
He was president of the Associated Press board of directors from 1976 to 1985 and the Associated Press Managing Editors association in 1969. He also served on the boards of directors of the Virginia Press Association, the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, the old American Newspaper Publishers Association and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
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He argued before Congress and in editors’ forums for fewer governmental restrictions on the flow of information.
Share this articleShareHe split his time between homes in Fredericksburg and Vero Beach.
His marriages to Margaret Durrett and Mary Ann Huntsman ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 13 years, Lee Pelham Rowe of Vero Beach; three children from his first marriage, Ashley Gould of Nashville, Charles Rowe Jr. of Fredericksburg and Timothy Rowe of Chapel Hill, N.C.; two stepdaughters, Laura Huntsman of Pennington, N.J., and Kathleen Huntsman of Fredericksburg; a brother, Josiah P. Rowe III of Fredericksburg; and 11 grandchildren.
— From staff reports and wire services
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