This week in history: Perry buys Palm Beach newspapers

On Feb. 17, 1947 Palm Beach resident John H. Perry Sr. bought The Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach Times and Palm Beach Daily News. Perry’s son, John H. Perry Jr., inherited the papers when his father died in 1952, and revolutionized newspaper production with new cold type, computer and engraving technologies. He owned the papers until 1969, when they were purchased by Cox Enterprises Inc. In his 2006 obituary the younger Perry was remembered as a man who “built submarines, invented pioneering newspaper technology, flew Army planes and worked to develop renewable energy — not exactly a dull life, but not enough to satisfy him. So he developed a national economic plan, helped prepare a national ocean program and invented a deep-sea recovery vehicle that became the center of a Smithsonian exhibit.”

In December 1965, rolls of newsprint are inspected at the Port of Palm Beach by ship’s Capt. Harold Landless (left), John H. Perry Jr., president of Perry Publications, Inc., (center) and Cecil B. Kelley Sr., publisher of the Palm Beach Post-Times. The 750-ton shipment was the first newsprint received through the port. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)