Longtime newspaper publisher and former Pulitzer Prize Board Chair Edward Seaton has died at the age of 79.

 

According to the Manhattan Mercury, Seaton died of natural causes Monday night at his home in Manhattan.

 

The Seaton family has a long history in Coffeyville. KGGF General Manager John Leonard says Edward's father, Richard M. Seaton moved to Coffeyville in the 1940s when the family purchased the Coffeyville Journal and KGGF. Richard oversaw the daily operations of the Coffeyville Journal until 1978.

 

Edward grew up in Coffeyville helping his father at the Journal before he moved to Manhattan in 1969 to serve as the Mercury's publisher and associate editor.

 

Seaton went on to advocate for press freedom around the world, was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, served as chairman of the Kansas Press Association and is a member of the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame.