Edward Holmead Harte ’45

Edward Holmead Harte ’45, a Texas newspaper publishing executive and conservationist who played an important part in preserving vast tracks of open space and stretches of seashore in his state, died of natural causes May 18. He served in the Army during WW II and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth. Ed entered the newspaper business as Hanover stringer for the Claremont (New Hampshire) Eagle, eventually buying a weekly in Scurry, Texas, in 1950. That grew until he became vice chairman of Harte-Hanks Communications, which owned more than 70 publications nationwide at its height. He retired at age 65. He met his wife, Janet Frey (Bennington 1944), while at Dartmouth. She predeceased him in 1999. He is survived by their children Elizabeth, Julia, Christopher and William and nine grandchildren. At an early age he became enthralled by the annual return of about two dozen whooping cranes to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, southwest of San Antonio, Texas. This led to membership in the National Audubon Society, whose board he led from 1974 to 1979. That society awarded him its highest honor, the Audubon Medal, in 2002. Ed and his brother donated their 66,000-acre ranch to the Nature Conservancy, leading to its addition to Big Bend National Park. Ed gave $46 million to Gulf of Mexico studies at Texas A&M in 2000. He helped lead successful campaigns to declare 67 miles of Padre Island, Texas, a national seashore and Mustang Island, Texas, a 3,954-acre barrier island.