A crusading newspaper editor, owner and publisher for a half-century, and a champion of individual liberty, E. Ralph Hostetter, in his columns continually warns of the erosion of our constitutional rights. Many of his columns, including award-winners, were published in 1999 in a collection, Publisher's Notebook.
Born in Rowlandville, Md., January 14, 1922, Hostetter began his education at The Tome School in Port Deposit, Md.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1941, as an apprentice seaman. He was assigned in 1943 to the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps at Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1945. He was released from World War II service in 1946 with the rank of Ensign. Recalled into the U.S. Navy in 1950 during the Korean War, he served as a Naval Intelligence Officer until released in 1952 with the rank of Lieutenant, Senior Grade.
Hostetter is chairman and publisher of American Farm Publications Inc., Easton, Md., and former president and owner of TriState Publishing Company, Elkton, Md., a chain of 13 community newspapers. He was elected to the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1990. The New Jersey Agricultural Society awarded Hostetter its highest award, the Gold Medallion, in 2003.
Hostetter is a Vice President, Strasburg Rail Road Co., Strasburg, Pa.; Chairman, Ambassador Travel Service, Wilmington, Del.; Chairman, Southside Virginia Auto Auction, Richmond, Va.; and owner of Camelot East Farms, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Active in civic affairs, Hostetter is presently a member of the Board of Directors of Free Congress Foundation, Washington, D.C.. Formerly, he has held such positions as President, Physicians for Peace, Norfolk, Va.; Founding President Maryland State Chamber of Commerce; President, Board of Trustees of The Tome School, North East, Md.; Chairman and Executive Editor, American Investigator Television Productions, Washington, D.C.; President, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Assn.; Elected Member Maryland Constitutional Convention (1967), and member, Board of Governors, Washington College, Chestertown, Md.
In nearly 50 years of travel, Hostetter has made three round-the-world trips, visiting 113 countries, including traveling to Antartica, going through the Northwest Passage on a Russian ice breaker, and to the North Pole on an atomic-powered Russian ice breaker in the year 2000.
He married the former Edith White of North East, Md., in 1947 and they have five daughters, one son and 13 grandchildren.
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