David Stern III

David Stern III. He is the son of prominent Philadelphia publisher J. David Stern. In 1949, he purchased the New Orleans Item-Tribune for $2 million. He ran the paper until its 1958 merger.

He is the author of the Francis the Talking Mule books that later became a film series.

In 1958, the Item-Tribune merged with the Daily States (founded in 1880) to form the New Orleans Daily States-Item. In 1962, publisher and businessman Samuel I. Newhouse bought the morning Times-Picayune as well as the afternoon States-Item, which continued to be published separately until they were merged and combined in 1980.