1922-2012 Delta Optimist’s 90thAnniversary
Optimist part of Glacier chain Family run for first 70 years, newspaper has been owned by LMP for the last two decades Publishing was founded that year, bringing together a diverse group of a dozen Greater Vancouver newspapers under one banner. The Optimist continues as part of that chain, which is now owned Glacier Media Group. Although the Optimist is part of a larger entity, the newspaper maintains its autonomy and small town feel. The chain’s head office, which is in Vancouver, provides direction and co-ordination, but leaves
the day-to-day operations to the publishers. For the first 11 years of Lower Mainland Publishing’s ownership, Tsawwassen resident Tom Siba served as publisher, succeeded by Randall Taylor in 2001. When Taylor left in 2007, current publisher Lori Chalmers took over. Chalmers, who is also publisher of the Richmond News, arrived in Delta from the Vancouver Sun. The other newspapers in the LMP
Publisher Lori Chalmers chain are: Vancouver Courier, North Shore News, Surrey-North Delta Now, Burnaby Now, Abbotsford Times, Chilliwack Times, Coquitlam Now, Langley Advance, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times and the New Westminster Record.
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For the better part of seven decades, the Delta Optimist was an independent community newspaper. Founded by the Dunnings, and later owned by the Bexleys, the Optimist was definitely a family-run operation. Then in 1990, it became part of Lower Mainland Publishing Ltd., a company whose two main shareholders were Southam Inc. and the Madison Venture Corp. Lower Mainland
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1614 - 56th Street, Tsawwassen 604-880-2482 www.baysideauto.ca The Delta Optimist 90th Anniversary
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