Former Harris chairman dead at 89
Lloyd Ballhagen, the Kansas newspaper executive who joined Harris Enterprises in 1958 and advanced to become the company’s president and chairman, died early Monday, Sept. 28, in Hutchinson. He was 89.
He was born Aug. 21, 1931, in rural Peever, S.D., graduated Phi Beta Kappa at the University of South Dakota, and was a Marine Corps heavyweight boxing champion.
Ballhagen joined the Harris Group in 1958, later becoming an editor and publisher. He was named president in 1978 and later became chairman of the Hutchinson-based company. At its peak in the 1980s, the Harris Group operated 12 newspapers and a dozen radio stations in Kansas and five other states. Ballhagen retired in 1998. (The Group was sold in 2016.)
The success of Harris came on the gifts of many talented people, some of them with peculiar personalities. “Lloyd had an uncanny ability to soothe and school the skilled – but sometimes volatile – men and women he had the vision to recruit,” said John Marshall, a former editor and publisher with the Harris Group.
“In the 27 years I worked for him I never heard him raise his voice. He had the knack of a lion tamer, the touch of a father.”
Lloyd was a man of many talents. I worshiped the way he handled challenges, with immense thought and wisdom. Growing under him as his youngest son, he would always give be the best advice while I was climbing a different corporate ladder. We could sit and talk for hours not just about problems but always possible solutions. He was also a very loving caring man that always made sure I learned the hard way but always took good care for me. When my mom left both of us in my mid teens, he took on the additional duties of becoming my best friend and father. If I had the opportunity to choose dads from a million, I would have chosen him. Rest now dad, you earned it. Love you.