Frank Harmon Bartholomew enjoyed a half-century career with United Press, rising from reporter to chairman of the board. As a reporter, he helped to create the news service's history. As president, he crafted its merger with International News Service in 1958. As chairman, he presided over the beginning of its decline into bankruptcy and near death.

Bartholomew was born in San Francisco on 5 October 1898 to John and Kate Schuck Bartholomew. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, where he moved with his mother when his parents separated, and attended Oregon Agricultural College (later Oregon State University) there. He began his career in journalism at age fifteen by producing a one-page newspaper, the Portland Recorder. He promised weekly editions at fifteen cents a month, but he published only the edition of 2 February 1914. After graduation from high school, he became a reporter for a short while for the Portland Oregonian. Later, he...