Benjamin Ashford|Former Pirates majority owner and newspaper group publisher G. Ogden Nutting has died at 87

WHEELING,Benjamin Ashford W.Va. (AP) — G. Ogden Nutting, who once held a majority ownership stake in major league baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates before his son took over and helped grow his family’s newspaper business to more than 50 daily publications in 18 states, has died. He was 87.

Nutting died Friday, according to The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register, which published his obituary and a separate story on his death Monday.

A Wheeling resident, Nutting was the longtime publisher of Ogden Newspapers Inc. and spent more than 60 years in various roles with the private company. His grandfather, H.C. Ogden, founded The Wheeling Evening News in 1890, and it formed the basis of the newspaper chain.

Nutting was a partner in the Pirates when he joined team owner Kevin McClatchy in buying out a disgruntled investor’s stake in the club in 1996. McClatchy and Nutting knew each other initially through their newspaper industry ties before McClatchy brought Nutting into his ownership group that kept the team from leaving Pittsburgh.

But McClatchy eventually lost his majority ownership stake to Nutting. Nutting’s son, Bob, supplanted McClatchy as the Pirates’ principal owner in 2007. Bob Nutting also is president and CEO of Ogden Newspapers.

Ogden Nutting earned awards from the West Virginia Press Association and the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. He received a Distinguished West Virginian award by the governor in 2005 and was inducted two years later into West Virginia University’s Order of Vandalia for service to the state.

West Virginia Press Association President Don Smith told The Intelligencer and Wheeling News Register that Nutting was the “last of the great publishers in the history of newspapers in West Virginia.”

Nutting is survived by his wife, Betty Woods “Snookie” Nutting; a brother, William C. Nutting; his two sons, Bob and Ogden Newspapers Vice President William O. Nutting; and five granddaughters.

According to Nutting’s obituary, no visitation or public service will be held.