Four former Kansas City Star publishers, as well as some lower-ranking former employees, are among 596 former McClatchy and Knight Ridder employees seeking supplemental pension money that McClatchy stopped paying after it filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Mac Tully
The group includes Robert Woodworth, Arthur Brisbane, Mac Tully, and Mark Zieman.
All members of the group want the bankruptcy judge to force McClatchy or its new owners — whoever they might be — to pony up.
Each of the four former publishers is owed more than $100,000, with Brisbane checking in on top at more than $800,000 and Woodworth at more than $160,000.
Two of the lower-ranking people among the 596 were former Star Managing Editor Steve Shirk and former Vice President of Sales and Marketing Susan Cantrell.
The names of all the former employees seeking redress were linked in a June 17 story written by McClatchy reporter Kevin G. Hall, who is in McClatchy’s Washington D.C. office and has been reporting extensively on the bankruptcy case.
Standard pensions (like mine at $891.23 a month) are not what we’re talking about here. By virtue of their rank or perceived value to either Knight Ridder or McClatchy, these 596 people got supplemental, that is, additional pensions.
I never knew that some employees were getting supplemental pensions, but, of course, it doesn’t surprise me. I was aware that some employees got special benefits of one kind or another, such as private club memberships.
As it goes through bankruptcy proceedings, McClatchy is still paying its standard pensions, but it has asked the federal government to take over that obligation. Some retired Star employees are concerned about what might happen, but my understanding is the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. usually steps up and pays the vast majority of standard pensions in bankruptcy cases.
The government is not responsible for the supplemental pensions.
The person who rallied members of the group to submit their claims was former Knight Ridder chairman Tony Ridder, who is owed $5.3 million.
Tony Ridder
A duller person and less inspiring corporate leader you will never meet, but Ridder had the right name, and he made a smart move when he decided to sell the company in 2006, just before the newspaper industry started sliding down a steep slope because of the internet.
At the same time, then-McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt made one of the worst decisions in newspaper industry history when he recommended to his board that McClatchy buy Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion. That sowed the seeds for this year’s bankruptcy filing.
Of course, the deal worked out great for Pruitt himself, who made tens of millions of dollars as CEO and now is owed $14.5 million in supplemental pension money. He is far and away the largest creditor among the 596 supplemental supplicants.
Here now are the former KC Star employees I was able to identify on the list, and how much they are owed…
:: Robert Woodworth, publisher from 1992 to 1997, $162,737
Arthur Brisbane
:: Arthur Brisbane, publisher from 1997 to 2005, and later senior vice president at Knight Ridder, $815,327
:: Mac Tully, publisher from 2005 to 2008, $475,904
:: Mark Zieman, publisher from 2008 to 2011, $358,795
:: Mike Petrak, former executive vice president and general manager, $688,866
David Zeeck
:: David Zeeck, former managing editor and executive editor, and later publisher of the Tacoma News Tribune, $213,429
:: Sharon Lindenbaum, former vice president and chief financial officer, now with UMKC, $104,192
:: Susan Cantrell, former vice president of sales and marketing, $70,186
:: Steve Shirk, former managing editor, $20,365.
Steve Shirk
**
My friend Fred Wickman, who worked at The Star for many years, put his eagle eye on the list and came up with three more…
:: Dan Gillmor, former reporter who went on to work for the Detroit Free Press and the San Jose Mercury News, $36,090
:: Greg Edwards, a former mid-level editor who went on to become editor at the Belleville News-Democrat, $12,333
:: Rich Hood, former editorial page editor, $5,937
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And Tom Jackman, former federal courts reporter, now at The Washington Post, came up with these…
:: Dan Peak, a former photo editor who segued into technology for McClatchy, $21,719
:: Jeanne Meyer, a former managing editor, $8,759.
**
Yet more help, this time from former employee Krys Reese…
:: Wes Turner, a former vice president who went on to become publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, $1,244,954
::Randy Waters, former vice president of production, $42,376
:: Del Campbell, who, I believe also was an executive on the production side, $96,795
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Correction: Earlier I said Art Brisbane went on from The Star to become a senior v.p. at McClatchy. It was with Knight Ridder; he never worked for McClatchy.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I can’t complain. Still getting the $85 a month I didn’t even know I was entitled to after 11 years with the paper (84 to 95).
You were a humble servant, Abe.
Geez, Fitz. It is SOW the seeds. An ag term. Also in the Bible. As you SOW, so shall ye reap. It’s not stitchery.
Brisbane looks very handsome. And wealthy, even if he doesn’t collect!
You might even have corrected me on that before, Tracy. You see, my wife is a seamstress, so, so….
Fitz, is it true that The Star still pays for your membership at the River Club? If so, will you take Tracy and me to lunch there some time?
Shhhh.
I hear that Brisbane is still getting royalties from his time as the lawn jockey there, Julius, so he does have that going for him.
Also, don’t you think that Mike and I should be in on Fitz’ gravy train.
John, you’re in our upcoming Lunch Bunch as well. Wear a tie, but no mask.
I could wear the tie as a mask.
None of this supplemental pension money, even if secured through the courts at some point, is going to make a bit of difference when it’s time for all of these men and women to settle their accounts with the Great Accountant.
I don’t see any mortal sins here, Rick, just talent, hard work and good fortune — or some combination thereof. I don’t begrudge these people their supplemental pensions, although some, particularly Pruitt’s, are ridiculous.