Paul Block

Block was born on November 2, 1875 to a poor Lithuanian Jewish family in Königsberg, East Prussia.[2] In 1885, his parents immigrated to Elmira, New York, where his father worked as a ragpicker.[3] Block attended Elmira public schools[1] and at the age of 10, he worked as a part-time newsboy and office messenger with Harry Brooks, the founder of the Elmira Telegram, where he learned the newspaper business.[3] In 1900, he left the Elmira Telegram and formed his own advertising rep firm which sold national advertising for client newspapers, Block Communications,[4] and is credited with pioneering the concept of national news advertising. He developed a close friendship and business relationship with William Randolph Hearst frequently serving as a frontman for Hearst's newspaper acquisitions[3] (Block's mistress Marion Davies would become Hearst's mistress and Block would later serve as Hearst's executor)[3] as well as purchasing several papers outright beginning with the Newark Star-Eagle and the Detroit Journal.[3] In 1926, he acquired the Toledo Blade and in 1927, he created the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.[5] He went on to own 14 papers.[3]

Block was a close friend of New York City mayor Jimmy Walker (often letting Walker use his apartment for liaisons with his mistress Ziegfeld Follies dancer Betty Compton) and president Calvin Coolidge.[3] Block also played a key role in advancing the career of the Franklin D. Roosevelt by supporting his 1928 campaign for governor.[3]

Block was active in Jewish philanthropy and headed the 1931 campaign of the New York Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies.[1]

He was married to Dina Wallach;[6][7] they had two sons:[1] William Block and Paul Block Jr. Block died of cancer in 1941;[3] funeral services were held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.[1]

• image of Paul Block