Last surviving heir to Hearst news dynasty dies

Randolph Hearst was chairman of the family's media empire from 1973 to 1996. At the time his daughter was kidnapped, he was also editor and president of the San Francisco Examiner.

Throughout the kidnapping ordeal, Hearst left his mansion regularly to face the media and discuss the latest SLA demands.

When the group demanded that the Hearsts give millions of dollars in food to California's poor, he headed up the People In Need giveaway program, pledging $2 million. Eventually more than 90,000 bags and cartons of food were distributed.

"Randy was the center of calm in a very turbulent period," said his nephew, William Randolph Hearst III.

While Patricia was with the SLA, she denounced her family, took the nom-de-guerre Tania and joined in a bank robbery. She was eventually captured and convicted, and served 21 months in prison.

Randolph Hearst, one of five sons of the newspaper mogul caricatured by Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane," began work as a cub reporter covering police, courts and City Hall with the Hearst-owned Call-Bulletin in San Francisco.

An heir to the family's gold, silver and copper fortune who also earned millions each year from the Hearst Corp.'s media holdings, Hearst's personal wealth was recently estimated by Forbes magazine to be $1.8 billion.

But acquaintances told the San Francisco Chronicle, which the Hearst Corp. recently acquired in a deal that also involved selling off the storied Examiner, that for all his riches and his role for many years as the family patriarch, Hearst often seemed down to earth.

"He was a very bright, thoughtful, caring guy," said William Coblentz, a lawyer and friend for many years. "He was self-effacing, devoid of prejudice, and he cared for people. He had a desire to listen, which a lot of people in his position do not have."

Coblentz added: "I think he felt he didn't live up to the expectations of his father, whatever they were. I think he felt he wasn't as smart as he should be, which was absolutely untrue."

Hearst and twin brother, David, were born on Dec. 2, 1915, in New York. When their father died in 1951 at age 88, he did not leave any of his five sons in charge of his empire.

The holdings were handed over to professional managers, and the sons became the minority on a 13-member board of trustees.

Randolph Hearst didn't mind the arrangement, Coblentz said, because the corporation did quite well, growing to 27 TV stations, 16 magazines, 12 daily newspapers, several cable enterprises and real estate holdings.

Forbes estimated the privately held corporation's 1999 revenues to be $4.4 billion.

The Harvard-educated Hearst was an executive for a range of Hearst newspapers, interrupting his career to serve as an Army pilot in World War II. He married three times, the first two ending in divorce.

Earlier this year, Hearst bought the Vanderbilt mansion in Manalapan, Fla., for $29.9 million from Mel Simon, owner of the Indiana Pacers basketball team. He remained interested in the family's newspapers and was president of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

"Randy Hearst shared his father's strong vision and his abiding belief in the media business," said Frank A. Bennack Jr., president and chief executive officer of Hearst Corp.

However, others who knew Hearst well said that while he was very bright, he lacked his father's passion for newspapering.

"Very plainly spoken, he was a nice man. Probably too nice for the job he had," said Frank McCulloch, managing editor of the Examiner from 1985 to 1992.

Hearst is survived by his wife, Veronica, and five daughters.<