Frank Batten Sr. dies at 82

Frank Batten Sr., retired chairman of Landmark Communications, now known as Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, died in Norfolk early this morning after a period of declining health. He was 82.

From errand boy he rose to publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and its afternoon sister. He helped lead the fight for integrated schools in Norfolk, midwifed Old Dominion University into being, commanded The Associated Press and its far-flung correspondents and defied a legion of doubters to create The Weather Channel.

He also lavished endowments on schools and universities and co-founded a scholarship program that guaranteed college educations to inner-city children.

Louis D. Boccardi, retired president and chief executive officer of The AP, called Batten "a teacher and a leader and a visionary."

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim described Batten as that rare citizen to whom the region turned for leadership time and again.

"There are two pillars of this community," Fraim said. "One is Frank Batten. The other is everyone else."

Until its partial breakup in 2008, Batten's Landmark Communications Inc. was one of the country's largest privately held media companies. The business' marquee properties were The Weather Channel and Weather.com, since sold.

Its successor, Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, remains parent to nine daily newspapers and more than 100 nondaily newspapers and specialty publications, to TV stations in Las Vegas and Nashville, Tenn., and to Dominion Enterprises, which produces a national chain of classified-ad publications and owns a large office building in downtown Norfolk.

Batten, who stepped down as Landmark chairman in 1998, is survived by his wife, Jane, and three children.

-- The Virginian-Pilot