Ralph Hostetter - Biography
E. Ralph Hostetter, a crusading newspaper editor, owner, and publisher for a half-century, continually warns in his columns about the erosion of our constitutional rights.
Hostetter, who was born in Rowlandville, Md., on Jan. 14, 1922, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1941. 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 was 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 Co., 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 of Strasburg (Pa.) Rail Road Co.; chairman of Ambassador Travel Service, Wilmington, Del.; chairman, Southside Virginia Auto Auction, Richmond, Va.; and owner of Camelot East Farms, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
He is a member of the board of directors of Free Congress Foundation, Washington, D.C.
He and his wife, Edith, have five daughters, one son, and 13 grandchildren.