William Cowles, 3Rd, Spokane Newspaper President, Publisher

SPOKANE - William H. Cowles, 3rd, president and publisher of The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle newspapers, died yesterday after suffering a heart attack while jogging. He was 60.

Cowles was stricken while running near his home and died soon after at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Cowles had been publisher for 22 years, a title held previously by his father and grandfather. He held positions on several newspaper and business associations and boards.

The soft-spoken Cowles had called the newspaper business "the most fascinating and most socially valuable enterprise that one could think of."

House Speaker Tom Foley, whose home district includes Spokane, said Cowles' newspapers treated him fairly even though the two men didn't always agree on political issues.

"He was a person of extraordinary honesty, in the sense not only of being true to his own principles, but being able to be amazingly detached and objective," said Foley, D-Wash.

Chris Peck, managing editor of the newspapers, said Cowles set a standard for commitment to the community and support of high-quality journalism.

"Bill Cowles represented the highest standards of a newspaper publisher," Peck said. "He spoke often of the need for a newspaper to strive for accuracy, integrity and leadership. He wanted his newspapers to be the best, and he set an example for all of us."

Cowles' grandfather, W.H. Cowles, a Chicago newspaperman, moved to Spokane in 1891. He went to work for The Spokesman newspaper and became its publisher. When it merged with the competing Review, the new venture was called The Spokane Review.

W.H. Cowles acquired The Spokane Review in 1893 and renamed it The Spokesman-Review. He bought the Spokane Daily Chronicle in 1897.

The Cowles Publishing Co. later expanded to include the Northwest Farmer-Stockman magazines, the Inland Empire Paper Co., KHQ television station and Pinnacle Productions International.

The Spokesman-Review, a morning newspaper, and the Chronicle, an afternoon paper, have shared editorial departments since 1983.

Cowles was a past chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association; past director of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau; director of Landmark Communications and The Seattle Times Co., and a former director of The Associated Press and of the Allied Daily Newspapers.

He was president of Momentum, a Spokane business development group; chairman of the Washington Roundtable, and past chairman of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce.

Cowles was born March 4, 1932, in Spokane, the son of William Hutchinson Cowles and Margaret Paine Cowles. He attended Lewis and Clark High School and was a carrier for the family newspapers. He completed his secondary education in California.

Cowles received a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1953 and a law degree from Harvard University in 1959. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1953 to 1956.

He returned to Spokane and worked in most departments at The Spokesman-Review before becoming publisher in 1970.

Cowles was known for dropping in on various departments at the newspaper on holiday evenings, typically bringing in members of his family on Christmas for introductions.

"We almost came to expect it on the holidays," said Mike Lemon, a Review pressman for 22 years. "I guess we didn't really think about who he was. He was just the owner."

Survivors include his wife, Allison Stacey Cowles; a son, W. Stacey Cowles; a daughter, Elizabeth A. Cowles, a brother and two sisters.

Funeral arrangements are pending.