Tony Newhall, former publisher of The Signal and longtime community member and volunteer, died on Friday, according to his wife Reena Newhall. He was 84.
Tony was the son of Scott Newhall, who was the former editor and publisher of the paper from 1963 to 1977. Tony then became publisher from 1977 until 1988. His local activism earned him public recognition including being named SCV Man of the Year in 1985, among other accolades.
He joined the board of directors of the Newhall Boys’ Club, now known as the SCV Boys & Girls Club, where he led fundraising efforts for the organization before being named Director of the Year and president of the board.
Tony, whose great-great-grandfather was town founder Henry Mayo Newhall, also served on the board of the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation, the United Way annual campaigns, on the board of the SCV Historical Society and on the founding board of the Friends of Hart Park.
After he left The Signal, he spent 10 years in San Francisco as associate publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mario Einaudi, Tony’s son-in-law and a spokesperson for the family, said on Tuesday that Tony died following an illness and asked for privacy on behalf of the family at this time.
Einaudi described Tony as someone who always sought to form connections with people and always had a positive outlook on life and was very intelligent.
“He had a huge wealth of knowledge, not only about Santa Clarita and California but also the United States and world affairs. That’s one of the things I’m going to miss because he was a real intellectual sparring partner,” Einaudi said, and added that Tony adored his wife Reena.
Reena and Tony were married for almost 50 years, she said on Wednesday afternoon during a brief phone call with The Signal.
They met at Reena’s former dance studio, Studio 84, when he was in search of ballroom dance lessons, she said, reminiscing on the memory.
“That’s how we met, and we ended up together after he learned ballroom. We ended up doing vacations and teaching on cruise ships when he had time off,” she said. “It kept him active and physically able.”
They shared four children together, and when asked of any fond memories, she simply responded: “There’s so many. I don’t even know where to begin. He was always there for me. We did a lot that was fun.”
Reena acknowledged that Tony was widely known by the community for his work, and credited part of his efforts to making the SCV what it is today but wanted the community to know, “We have great people running the city, and let’s keep it that way. Let’s be concerned about what our people need. Our community should stay strong.”
