M. H. de Young

M. H. de Young

M. H. de Young and the San Francisco Chronicle in 1885
Born Michael Henry de Young
(1849-09-30)September 30, 1849
St. Louis, Missouri
Died February 15, 1925(1925-02-15) (aged 75)
San Francisco, California
Nationality American
Alma mater Heald College
Occupation Newspaper publisher
Years active 1865–1925
Known for Co-founder of San Francisco Chronicle and director of the Associated Press
Spouse(s) Katherine I. Deane
Children 5
Relatives Charles de Young (brother)

Michael Henry "M. H." de Young (September 30, 1849 – February 15, 1925) was an American journalist and businessman.

Early life

De Young was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The family was Jewish, and immigrated from the Netherlands and France.[1][2] He was the son of Cornelia "Amelia"[3] (née Morange; 1809-1881) and Miechel de Young (d. 1854), who married in 1837.[4] His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Morange, who served as the French Minister to Spain under Napoleon I,[5][6] moved to the United States about 1815[3] and helped found the B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in New York in 1825.[7]

De Young moved with his family to San Francisco, California while he was still young. He attended and graduated from Heald College, a San Francisco college founded in 1863.

Career

In San Francisco, de Young and his brother, Charles de Young (1845–1880), founded the Daily Dramatic Chronicle newspaper, first published on January 16, 1865. The Chronicle was the predecessor of the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco's only remaining daily broadsheet newspaper. De Young was also the director of the Associated Press for many years.

After his death in 1925, his son-in-law George Toland Cameron became publisher and president of the Chronicle Publishing Company.[8][9]

Personal life

De Young and his wife Katherine had five children:

In 1884, he was shot by an irate businessman, Adolph B. Spreckels, apparently due to a negative newspaper article, but survived. M. H. de Young died on February 15, 1925 and a Catholic church mass was held in St. Mary's Cathedral[14] (he had converted to Catholicism after marrying his wife, Katherine I. Deane).[15]

Legacy

Max Thieriot in 2013
Nan Tucker McEvoy

The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which originally opened in 1895, is named in his honor. De Young helped develop the gem collection for what became California’s first museum in 1894. After visiting New York, in the capacity of Director-General of the San Francisco Midwinter Fair, which grew out of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, de Young used a $200,000 surplus as a fund for the establishment of a memorial museum. He purchased many things of "curious and artistic and instructive value".[16] The collection of precious stones, which were made by George Frederick Kunz of Tiffany & Co. included diamonds, topazes, opals, red garnets, turquoises, emeralds, and arid rubies, as well as lesser known jewels including asteriated diamonds, alexandrites from Russia, ruby spinels from Burmah, beryls from the Ural Mountains, and Spessartines from Brazil.[16]

Descendants

In 1956, one of De Young's grandsons, Ferdinand Melly Thieriot (1921–1956), the circulation director of The Chronicle, and his wife Frances (1921–1956), were among the 46 killed aboard the SS Andrea Doria when it was struck by the MS Stockholm off the coast of Nantucket.[17]

De Young was the grandfather of Nan Tucker McEvoy (1919–2015), former chair of Chronicle Publishing Company's board of directors until the 1990s.[18] He is also the great-great-grandfather of actor Max Thieriot (born 1988).[19]

References

  1. ↑ Adams, Charles F. (2005). Murder By The Bay: Historic Homicide In And About The City Of San Francisco. San Francisco: Quill Driver Books. p. 59. ISBN 1-884995-46-2.
  2. ↑ Brechin, Gray (2001). Imperial San Francisco : urban power, earthly ruin (1st pbk. printing. ed.). Berkeley: University of California press. ISBN 0-520-22902-9. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 Markens, Isaac (1888). The Hebrews in America: A Series of Historical and Biographical Sketches. Harvard University. p. 26. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  4. ↑ University of Wisconsin - Madison (1974). Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly. Southern California Jewish Historical Society. p. 211. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  5. ↑ The Hebrews in America
  6. ↑ The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times, Volume 7. Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incorporated. 1942. p. 487. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "105th Anniversary of B’nai Jeshurun Congregation Marked". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 14 December 1930. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "George T. Cameron, Late Publisher's Son-in-Law Becomes New Chief of Chronicle". Los Angeles Times. February 19, 1925. Retrieved 2016-07-27. George T. Cameron, son-in-law of the late Mr. H. de Young, will announce in tomorrow morning's issue of the San Francisco Chronicle that he will assume charge of that newspaper with the title of publisher and president of the Chronicle Publishing Company.
  9. ↑ Hart, James David (1987). A Companion to California. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520055445.
  10. ↑ "HELEN DE YOUNG TO WED CLUBMAN Engagement to George Cameron Causes Stir in Social Circles". San Francisco Call (Volume 104, Number 3). 3 June 1908. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  11. ↑ Sward, Susan (25 June 2008). "S.F. philanthropist Nini Tobin Martin dies". SF Gate. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  12. ↑ Harvard College (1906). Harvard College Class of 1906 Secretary's Third Report. Cambridge, MA: Crimson Printing Company.
  13. ↑ Press, Associated (30 June 1988). "Obituaries: Phyllis de Young Tucker; S.F. Publishing Family Member". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  14. ↑ "Publisher of San Francisco Chronicle Buried With Simplest Rites". New York Times. February 19, 1925. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
  15. ↑ Gale, Robert L. (2001). An Ambrose Bierce companion. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 79. ISBN 0-313-31130-7.
  16. 1 2 The Mineral Collector. Volume I, number 11, January 1895. Page 173.
  17. ↑ Samuel Halpern, An Objective Forensic Analysis of the Collision Between Stockholm and Andrea Doria
  18. ↑ Associated Press (27 March 2015). "Nan Tucker McEvoy, Heiress Who Ran San Francisco Chronicle, Dies at 95". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  19. ↑ Q&A: Feeling the “Disconnect” with Actor Max Thieriot
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