Albert K. Sherman

MIDDLETOWN - Albert K. Sherman,chairman of the board and former publisher of The Newport Daily News, died June 30, 2006, at his home in Middletown. Mr. Sherman, 88, had been in failing health for some time, and his death followed a brief bout with cancer. During his career at The Daily News, Mr. Sherman helped guide the paper from the age of molten metal and manual typewriters into the modern era of computers and color printing.He also had an impressive record of industry leadership and local community service, including serving as the first treasurer of the Preservation Society of Newport County and as a longtime board member of both Newport Hospital and Newport Electric Corp.Mr. Sherman was born at Newport Hospital on January 12, 1918, the son of Hazel Poole and Edward Albert Sherman. He was raised on Powel Avenue and attended Cranston-Calvert schools. He also went to Rogers High School, before finishing up at Pomfret School in Pomfret, CT, and spending a post-graduate year at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.Mr. Sherman then attended Amherst College in Amherst, MA, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, graduating in 1940. He joined the U.S. Navy and entered officer training, becoming part of the crop of 90-day-wonders turned out before and during World War II.During a leave, while visiting a college friend in Pittsburgh, Mr. Sherman met his soon-to-be wife of 63 years, Frances Gibbs Johnson.As a young naval officer, Mr. Sherman commanded the sub-chaser SC 511 and led convoys of freighters across the Gulf of Mexico and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at times carrying the title of convoy commodore. One of his strongest war memories was seeing the masts of sunken ships, torpedoed by German submarines, sticking out of the water at the mouth of the Mississippi River.After teaching for a year at the Sub Chaser Training Center in Miami, FL, Mr. Sherman was transferred to the Pacific area and was assigned to an AKA attack cargo ship that was preparing to carry troops and supplied in support of a possible invasion of Japan.The ship arrived in the Far East after the Japanese surrender, and Mr. Sherman spent time in both Japan and the Philippines before leaving active Navy service as a lieutenant commander.Mr. Sherman then returned to Newport with his wife and young son currently Daily News Publisher Albert K. Buck Sherman, Jr..His brother Edward A. Ned Sherman Jr., also a Navy veteran, joined the paper as well and the two became co-publishers in 1948, on Alberts 30th birthday, as prescribed by their fathers will.Albert worked on the business side of the paper, whose offices and printing plant where then on Thames Street, while Ned stuck to the news operations.The brothers made a bold move in 1970, opening a new plant on Admiral Kalbfus Road and becoming one of the first papers in the region to make the switch from hot-metal typesetting and letter-press printing to modern offset printing.When Edward retired in 1975, Albert became the sole publisher. He also was active in the New England Daily Newspaper Association, serving a term as president. Albert retired in 1980 and was succeeded as publisher by his son, Buck Sherman, who today remains at the helm of the newspaper.Albert Sherman and his wife divided their time during their retirement years between Middletown and Naples, FL, where they owned a condominium. While not active in the day-to-day operation of the newspaper, Mr. Sherman at the time of his death was chairman of The Daily News board of directors.In addition to his memberships on boards of the Preservation Society, Newport Hospital and Newport Electric, Mr. Sherman was on the local advisory board for the Industrial National Bank and was a founding member of the Naval War College Foundation. He also was a member of the board of the Armed Services YMCA and the Newport County YMCA.He was a Mayflower descendant and was a member of the Newport Rotary Club, the Newport Historical Society, Redwood Library, the Newport Art Museum, the Newport Artillery Company, the Clambake Club of Newport, the Rhode Island Commodores, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, Hazards Beach and the Naples Yacht Club. He also was an active fundraiser for the United Way in Newport.In addition to his widow, brother and oldest son, Mr. Sherman is survived by: Buck Shermans wife, Jocelyn, and their children, William and Elizabeth Sherman; a daughter, Katharine Sherman Zins and her husband, Jack, of Wellesley, MA, and their children, Robert and Jonathan Zins and Carrie Nottingham; and a second son, Bruce and his wife, Kathleen, of Seattle and their children Claire, Emma and Philip Sherman.A memorial service will be held Thursday, July 6, 2006, at 11 a.m. at Trinity Church, Square, Newport.The family asks that donations be made to the Hospice division of Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties, 1184 East Main Road, Portsmouth, RI 02871.