Sue Clark-Johnson, former Gannett executive, dies at 67

Sue Clark-Johnson, a longtime fixture in the newspaper industry who once led Gannett Co. Inc.'s community news division, has died at age 67 after a short illness.

Known as a visionary, motivator, consensus builder and consummate multitasker, Clark-Johnson died early Wednesday at a Scottsdale, Ariz. hospital.

She started her career as a reporter at a small newspaper in upstate New York and quickly moved up corporate and industry ranks.

Clark-Johnson and her husband, Brooks Johnson, maintained a home in the Phoenix area after she was promoted from The Arizona Republic to the suburban Washington headquarters of Gannett Co., Inc., then returned after she retired from that position, living in Paradise Valley.

Her career in the newspaper business spanned more than 40 years and culminated in her being named the first female head of the newspaper division of Gannett, parent of The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com and roughly 170 other media businesses around the nation. She held that post, at Gannett's headquarters, from 2005 to 2008.

She was elected to serve as the chairwoman of the Newspaper Association of America, an industry group of publishers and executives, for 2007-08.

"She not only is a talented manager of very complex and far-flung operations, but she is a gifted strategist and visionary," Craig Dubow, Gannett's former president and CEO, said at the time of her Gannett promotion. "Sue is an ideal executive to help lead Gannett into our new digital information age."

Before that, she served as The Republic's publisher, as well as chairwoman and chief executive officer of Phoenix Newspapers Inc., after Gannett purchased the company in 2000. While in the Phoenix position, she also served as senior president of Gannett's Pacific Newspaper Group, overseeing 32 companies, including several newspapers.

Clark-Johnson's community connections in metro Phoenix were extensive. At the time of her death, she was a director at Pinnacle West Capital Corp., parent of Arizona Public Service Co.

When Clark-Johnson received the Torch of Liberty award from the local Anti-Defamation League in 2003, she was saluted by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain, four congressmen and others.

She retired from Gannett in 2008.

"I've been with the Gannett Co. for over 40 years, and I've had a great run," she said at the time. "I've worked with some great people. I've been able to do almost everything you can do in this industry, and I've had a very good time doing it."

A native of New York state, Clark-Johnson earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York-Binghamton and began her career in 1967 as a reporter at Gannett's newspaper in Niagara Falls, N.Y. She rose to become publisher of that newspaper 10 years later, then publisher of the Press & Sun Bulletin in 1983 and Gannett's East regional vice president in 1984.

She later was promoted to senior group president of Gannett's West region while serving as publisher of the Reno Gazette-Journal in Nevada.

During her five-year stint as Phoenix publisher, Clark-Johnson, who also had a home in Incline Village, Nev., helped transform The Republic into a news and information organization that included the newspaper, magazines and Spanish-language publications while overseeing explosive digital growth.

Clark-Johnson has been recognized by numerous organizations, including a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Female Executives. She was awarded the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for diversity efforts from the National Association of Minority Media Executives.