Could those who are trying to save the Chronicle learn something from the history of the Oakland Tribune?

Former Trib managing editor Eric Newton recalls his years working for Bob and Nancy Maynard (pictured) from 1984 to 1992, and how they stopped the paper from closing.

During the 20th century in America, more than 1,000 daily newspapers closed. The Oakland Tribune was not among them. The Maynards saved it. They found a nonprofit to invest in it and made a deal with a buyer to continue it.

When I heard the great newspaper editor John Carroll say that corporate ownership models were no longer working, I thought to myself: I know a guy who said that 20 years ago. Bob and Nancy bought a newspaper from the Gannett Company and turned it, however fleetingly, into a family-owned paper.

Bob’s prostate cancer came back. It was clear that he would die — the last thing and by far the worst thing he would do before his time. A final hope was that Oakland’s newspaper would live to fight another day. And it does.

[MORE] (Photo credit: AP file, Olga Shalygin)