William Pace, 84, had owned Topics Newspapers
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William W. Pace, 84, Noblesville, a former resident of Carmel who had
owned Topics Newspapers, died Thursday.
Mr. Pace worked for North Side Topics after graduating from Butler
University. He left Topics in 1952 and worked as advertising manager
for the South Wind Division of Stewart-Warner and as an advertising
account executive for Caldwell, Larkin & Sidener-Van Riper until he
returned to Topics in 1958.
He purchased the company in 1969 and built it into 13 suburban
newspapers covering the north side of Marion County, Hamilton County
and part of Boone County. He sold Topics in 1986 to Ohio publisher
Leroy Stauffer, who owned The Noblesville Ledger.
Mr. Pace grew up in Bicknell and received a bachelor's degree in
journalism in 1949 from Butler University. He was an Army Air Forces
veteran of World War II.
He pursued a love of flying after the war and owned a succession of
small planes. He enjoyed boating, photography and traveling and was a
motorcycle enthusiast especially fond of his 1968 R-69S BMW.
Mr. Pace was a co-founder of the old BMW Motorcycle Club of
Indianapolis. He was a former vice president of the Greater
Indianapolis Progress Committee and served on the Central Indiana
Council on Aging under then-Mayor Richard Lugar. He was also a former
member of the founding board of directors for the Carmel Clay
Education Foundation and a former board member of the Carmel Rotary
Club and the Noblesville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Pace attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of
America, was a Master Mason in the Masonic Lodge and was a former
member of the Elks Lodge and American Legion. He was a charter board
member of Suburban Newspapers of America and a charter member of the
Advisory Board of U.S. Suburban Press. In 1978, then-Indianapolis
Mayor William Hudnut appointed him chairman of the steering committee
of the Citizens Task Force Against Crime.
Mr. Pace was a member of First United Methodist Church.
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Peggy Lou Wade Pace; daughters
Patti Lewis, Noblesville; Cindy Leinhos, Westfield; Sandy West, French
Lick; and Peggy Sue Pace, Indianapolis; and six grandchildren.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in First United Methodist Church,
with calling from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday in Randall and Roberts Funeral
Home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma
Society, Indiana Chapter, 941 E. 86th St., Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN
46240.