Warren Communications Founder Dies at 86

By Staff -- TWICE, 12/4/2006

Washington — Albert Warren, 86, long-time owner, editor and publisher of a group of trade newsletters covering the television and telecommunications industries, including Consumer Electronics Daily and TV Digest, died Sunday of a stroke at his home here.

Warren was the founder and former owner of Warren Communications News, which has published flagship newsletters including the former "Television Digest with Consumer Electronics," and current "Communications Daily."

A 1942 graduate of the Ohio State University School of Journalism, Warren served in a U.S. Navy radio communications unit in the Pacific and Alaska during World War II. He joined the fledgling "Television Digest" as a reporter in 1945, when only eight U.S. TV stations were on the air.

He bought the newsletter from Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications in September 1961 and expanded the operations before selling the business to his sons Paul and Daniel in 2000. He maintained a hand in editing content to the end.

In 1962, Warren co-founded the Independent Newsletter Association, a predecessor of today's international Specialized Information Publishers Association. He was a member of Broadcast Pioneers, Cable Pioneers, the International Radio & TV Society, the White House Correspondents Association, the Ohio State University School of Journalism Advisory Council and the Cosmos Club.

Warren was born in 1920 in Warren, Ohio to Russian-born parents and grew up on a dairy farm with no electricity or running water in Gustavus, Ohio.

He is survived by a wife Margaret, children Ellen Warren, Paul Warren, Claire Warren, Daniel Warren, Thomas Warren and Joan Warren, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.