Inducted 1995
publisher, Midland Daily News
Norman Rumple
Norman (“Slim”) Rumple has served Midland as a community “watchdog” for more than 58 years. Rumple came to Michigan in 1937 to interview after graduating from South Dakota State College. Just one month after joining the three-person staff at the Midland Daily News, Rumple helped convert the paper to a daily. Rumple’s career was interrupted by World War II and, upon his return in 1945, he became managing editor of the paper. He advanced up the ranks to president and publisher and was named publisher emeritus after his retirement in 1980. Rumple dedicated his career to community journalism and was a major influence on young journalist he trained over the years, including George B. Irish, who succeeded Rumple as publisher of the Daily News and is now vice-president of the Hearst Corporation. “Slim” played a major role in my preparation to become his successor as publisher of the Midland Daily News and for the subsequent positions which led to my current assignment,” Irish said. Fellow publisher Dan Ryan described Rumple: “Although a tower of a man himself, ‘Slim’ Rumple never hid in an Ivory Tower. A man of the streets and of the people, he knew his community from its gutters to its mansions.” Rumple is a leader in every sense of the word. He was an active member of the Michigan Press Association, becoming the organization’s president in 1967. His commitment to the news business also was apparent in his service as a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, American Newspaper Publishers Association, Inland Daily Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. And how does a newspaper man who has devoted his life to community news spend his retirement? By reporting to work every day at the Midland Daily News.