RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Over the weekend, Richmond lost one of its most influential citizens, J. Stewart Bryan III.
Bryan was the Chairman of the Board of Media General, the company that owns WRIC TV-8. But most Richmonders knew him as the 4th generation publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Byan built that family firm into one of the country’s top broadcasting companies. His record of civic service is too long to list, but he held special places in his heart for the Virginia Historical Society, the military and education projects.
By the time he was born in Richmond in 1938, J Stewart Bryan’s family had been in the newspaper business for 50 years.
After attending St. Christopher’s and UVA, a stint in the Marines and an unhappy year in law school, he became a newspaper reporter.
“He loved being a reporter,” said Marshall Morton, Retired Media General CEO. “He loved the idea that he could garner information that the public needed to know and translate that for them, in terms that represented the locality effectively.”
Bryan’s belief that journalism is a noble public service was reflected in his everyday life.
“He had a very personal way about him that made everybody enjoy being with him,” Morton added. “The fact that you and you wife like to travel, he’d never forget that, even if 20 years passed since you saw him last.
“I think part of that was his reporter training.”
Bryan took the reins as publisher of The Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1978. But by the 90’s, the internet began to change the media landscape, and the Bryan family interests.
“Stewart, a businessman, recognized that if you’re going to serve the public well you need to serve them on their own terms,” Morton explained. “And it’s terms were more and more electronic, so today, Media General is essentially a broadcast and internet company.”
One that’s enormously successful, with 71-TV stations in 48-markets.
Interviewed in 2003 before receiving a Richmond business award, Bryan talked about his team.
“Of course, it’s easy to find people who are smarter than me–most of them are,” he said. “But if you get the right ones and make sure the chemistry works, it’s amazing what you can accomplish.”
He was well known for being a listener and a doer,” Morton said. “He was active in a lot of civic areas and non-profit areas that he thought made a difference to the public.”
Bryan’s simple commitment to informing the public helped him navigate the rapidly changing tastes of his customers.
“We really don’t care what the medium is, if it’s newspapers or if it’s television or the internet or the ethernet or a little chip you put in your head as we beam stuff too you. Any of those things will work,” Bryan said.
“A lot of businesses today are too slow to recognize that,” Morton said. “He recognized that in a changing world you couldn’t stand still. You had to move forward with the times.”
J Stewart Bryan III was 77 years old. He’s survived by his wife Lissy, 2-daughters and 5 grandchildren.
