L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY F rom 1978-1993, Virgil Fassio was the pub- lisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, one of the city's two daily newspapers until it closed in 2009. His position there capped a 46- year career in newspaper publish- ing that included major dailies, such as the Detroit Free Press and the Chicago Tribune, as well as small-city weeklies. Fassio was born outside Pitts- burgh, Penna., in 1927, and got his first taste of publishing during his college days when he and a friend started a neighborhood tabloid. From those humble be- ginnings, his career flourished, carrying him on delegations around the globe and into meet- ings in the White House and the halls of Congress. Now aged 90, Fassio just pub- lished his memoirs recording his journey from Pittsburgh to Seattle. Called Steel City to Emerald City: A Newspaperman's Life Journey, the book was published by That's Thirty Press. It recounts his child- hood in an Italian household, his early years as a journalist and his rise up the newspaper ladder to publisher. Referred to by his colleagues as "the real thing," Fassio was a man who could make things hap- pen, but he never lost sight of his Italian heritage and his Steel City roots. The following answers are based on Fassio's memoirs and a radio interview he gave to KKNW-AM. Tell us a bit about your Ital- ian heritage. Dad left Italy in 1920, never to return, with $20 in his pocket and not knowing a word of English. He joined a cousin in Akron, Ohio, and worked as a laborer on a bridge project. Mom came in 1921, the only one in her family ever to emigrate. My parents moved to Chicago in 1922, and the following year moved to a small town near Pittsburgh. They had little formal education but brought with them a strong work ethic and a desire to make a better life for themselves and their chil- dren. When did you get your first taste of the newspaper life? In 7 th grade, after occasionally substituting for a pal for a few years, I landed my first paying job and an introduction to the news- paper business: a Pittsburgh Press home-delivery route with 45 to 50 customers. I collected 28 cents every week for seven-day deliv- ery, and deposited most of my $2.50 weekly profit into a savings account. After the U.S. Navy, you at- tended college on the GI Bill. Did you resume your interest in newspapers during your college years? I enjoyed writing and was tak- RITA CIPALLA in cancellation of the plants and the worst government bond fail- ures in history. In another inves- tigation, we uncovered misman- agement of the Washington State Investment Board, saving the state millions of dollars. And [the pa- per] uncovered a long-standing practice of hauling liquid food- stuffs in the same trucks that car- ried toxic chemicals, resulting in new regulations. I imagine you've met many famous people during your long career. I met presidents, kings, queens and national heads of state around the world, men and women who shaped the destiny of their inde- pendent nations, including Nasser in Egypt, Nehru in India, Rahman in Malaysia, and Lee Yuan Kew in Singapore. I also rubbed shoul- ders with national, state and local government representatives, busi- ness and civic leaders, and ath- letes. You've been a life-long trav- eler. What were some of your favorite trips? Mom, sister Christina and I sailed from New York aboard the Saturnia bound for Genoa in 1949. Like most of Europe, Italy was recovering and rebuilding slowly from the devastation of the war. [During the trip,] my Uncle Cesare arranged a tour of Gazzetta Del Popolo, a Torino newspaper with national distrib- ution. The staff welcomed this American journalist from Pitts- burgh as if I represented a major US newspaper. A trip around the world in 1958, at age 30, was the fulfill- ment of a dream. I was invited by [travel agency owner] Marcel Duriaux to be his assistant on a fact-finding trip for newspaper and broadcast executives. For 37 days, we circled the globe meet- ing and interviewing heads of state in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. My fellow trav- elers paid upwards of $10,000 each. I went along without cost, but was expected to earn my way. I did. In each city, I arranged for ground transportation, made sure everyone got a wake-up call, con- firmed airlines schedules, recorded expenses and more. I heard you helped keep the Mariners baseball team in Seat- tle. Yes, with other executives of the RBI Club, I was responsible for promoting baseball, selling season tickets and making sure the Mariners did not leave town. I think I am most proud of this work. A big league city needs big league baseball. I am also proud that I threw out the open- ing-day first pitch a total of eight times! Virgil Fassio, long-time publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, just published a new book recounting his life as an Italian-American and his newspaper career ing an elective course in report- ing. With Tom Miller, a 40-year- old printer, I decided to start a bi- weekly tabloid newspaper, the Beechview News. Tom would be the publisher and handle adver- tising. I would be the editor and writer. I invested $300, a lot of money then. We published our first biweekly edition in Novem- ber 1947 and distributed copies to many homes and every retail store. The cost was five cents a copy or $1 a year. Tell us about some of the sto- ries that broke while you were at the Seattle P-I. One of the biggest stories con- cerned the Washington Public Power Supply System, which was building five nuclear power plants with construction flaws and man- agement boondoggles. The series of investigative stories culminated A career well-lived: New book explores a newspaperman's life

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