I’ve often said that life is a great adventure and the journey of life endlessly remarkable.
On Sept. 7, after months of negotiations, my son Josh and I sat in a boardroom with Les and Jennifer Goodstein, owners of Community Newspaper Group (CNG) Media, along with our respective lawyers and bankers. Multiple pens were out as we signed and signed what seemed like an endless stream of papers — submissions from the attorneys, corrections to documents and more corrections still.
Once the last paper was signed and the news from Flushing Bank was that our money had been wired to the Goodsteins’ account. I yelped with joy! It was finally done!
And so began the next chapter of my life, as Josh and I acquired the respected CNG media group with more than two dozen community newspapers, websites and events. The acquisition doubled the size of our company, making our combined circulation larger than any daily in New York City!
Moreover, the purchase took me home to Brooklyn. I was born and grew up in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, and my neighborhood newspaper was the enormously successful Kings Courier.
When I created with John Toscano our first newspaper in our living rooms nearly 35 years ago, he asked me what we should name it. I quickly told John, “Well, the Courier name was successful in Brooklyn, let’s name ours The Queens Courier.” The paper was born in 1985 with an investment of $250 each. Look how far we’ve come!
A few years later, I bought John out, and little by little, the Courier newspapers expanded and flourished, with more than 20 publications and 80 employees helping to put them all together.
After closing on the CNG purchase on Friday, I met the 90 new employees of our newly renamed SCNG (Schneps CNG) media group. I shared with them our commitment to continued excellence, an in-depth coverage of our neighborhoods and the people who live there.
I told the editorial team that I want to pursue a Pulitzer Prize; they’ve consistently won prizes in statewide competitions, so why not aim even higher? After all, my two cousins Arthur and Roger Kornberg won the Nobel Prize for medicine. My dream is to win the Pulitzer!
With newspapers and magazines on Long Island, New York City and Westchester County, we expect to continue to keep the spotlight on all the people and happenings in our communities. We want to continue to be your go-to source for community news both in print and online. After all, our motto is, “We are all about you!”
We will continue to make you proud!
