Newspaperman, 71, Dies

Stephen Hamblett ’57, a former Kirkland House resident who joined The Providence Journal immediately after graduating the College and worked his way up to publisher of the newspaper, died Tuesday at Rhode Island Hospital. He was 71.

The cause was a blood clot in the brain, Hamblett’s son told The Boston Globe.

As the Journal’s publisher and chief executive for nearly 12 years, Hamblett oversaw the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage in 1994 of corruption and patronage in the Rhode Island state court system.

A long-time friend and coworker, Joel Stark, said Hamblett’s “commitment to Providence was a inspiration to the community and the people that followed him.”

Starting in 1957, Hamblett began his climb up the company ladder, eventually taking the post of chairman in 1987. Under his leadership, the Journal merged its morning and afternoon papers, took the company public, and sold the paper to A. H. Belo Corporation in 1997.

Those who knew him spoke in interviews of both his kind character and his commitment to the company.

Howard G. Sutton, the current chairman of the Journal, said in a statement after Hamblett’s passing, “This is a very sad day for The Providence Journal family. We have lost a compassionate and visionary leader who had a lasting positive impact on thousands of Journal employees and their families.”

Stark, who worked with Hamblett at the Journal, echoed those sentiments.

“Stephen was entirely dedicated to his work at the Journal, but at the core of him was his family, his brothers, his sons, his friends, and his friendships, many of which extended into his business world,” Stark said. “For those of us who worked for him, he was both tenacious and calm, which allowed him to build a business very quietly, but that was enormously powerful in the media environs of America.”

After the Journal was acquired by the Belo Corporation, Hamblett continued to serve on its board until earlier this year. There too, he was a “thoughtful and gentle man,” said John Granatino, who worked with Hamblett at the new company.

Hamblett, a native of Nashua, N.H., first entered journalism as summer reporter for The Nashua Telegraph before graduating from the College.