he decided to make his friends an offer they could not refuse. If given enough time to raise $250,000, Gannett would buy both of their stakes in the Times-Union, making him the sole owner. In order to obtain these funds, Gannett formed a new corporation, Gannett Co., Inc. So, at age 48, Frank Gannett became the owner of six newspapers in five upstate New York cities. In 1928, Gannett purchased the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the paper for which he first worked as a paperboy. Politics Throughout his life, Gannett was active in politics. A majority of Gannett's newspapers were in solid Republican territory. Gannett would always send his pronouncements to his editors with a note, "For your information and use, if desired", and editors were free to ignore them. Gannett backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his early years of presidency but by the late 1930s withdrew his support. Gannett, amongst others, took a publicly neutral stand to the New Deal in 1936, though he privately disapproved of it, and would actively campaign against it later in the decade. He was a founding member of the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government and organized opposition to President Roosevelt's court-packing scheme of 1937, as well as the bulk of Roosevelt's proposed responses to the 1937 recession. Frank Gannett briefly ran for the 1940 Republican presidential nomination, but lost to Wendell Willkie. Later years Gannett would spend the rest of his life tirelessly working to build his corporation. He would expand his company to include both TV and radio stations. Though he never founded a paper, he "bought with an auditor's sure eye; in all, Publisher Gannett acquired 30 papers (plus a string of TV and radio stations) in 51 years, merged ten, and unloaded only three." Gannett was able to acquire more papers than any other American publisher has without the help of an inheritance. Though he suffered from diabetes, the publisher refused to slow down. It would not be until 1948, when Gannett suffered from a stroke that he would slow down. Due to a fractured spine in 1955. Gannett was forced to transfer management duties and the presidency of Gannett Co. to Paul Miller. Legacy Frank Gannett died on December 3, 1957, of complications suffered from a fall the previous April. Gannett, who started off with virtually nothing, built an empire that would continue on to this day. His