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Don Soldwedell, founder of Western Newspapers, Inc. (WNI; Courtesy photo).

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Unfortunately, it's impossible to mass-produce newspaper leaders. If it were, Don Soldwedel would have been the ideal prototype.The founder of Western Newspapers Inc. died Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 83. In the 50 years since he and partner F.F, McNaughton bought the Prescott Daily Courier in 1958 until his death, Don Soldwedel built WNI into a multi-media enterprise that comprised three daily newspapers, 12 non-dailies (including the Navajo Hopi Observer), 44 specialty publications, two radio stations, two telephone directories, an outdoor advertising company, a specialty sign firm, two central printing plants, one commercial print shop, and numerous news and advertising-related websites.

February 22, 2008