Nackey Loeb

Elizabeth Scripps "Nackey" Loeb (February 24, 1924 – January 8, 2000) was an American newspaper publisher. Her paternal grandfather was the namesake of the E. W. Scripps Company. Her second husband, William Loeb III, was publisher of the Manchester Union Leader newspaper of Manchester, New Hampshire, for 35 years. Upon his death in 1981, Nackey Loeb became publisher and served in that role until 1999.

Nackey Loeb
Born	Elizabeth Anne Scripps (1924-02-24)February 24, 1924 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	January 8, 2000(2000-01-08) (aged 75) Goffstown, New Hampshire, U.S.
Other names	Elizabeth Scripps-Gallowhur Nackey S. Loeb
Education	Francis Parker School (San Diego)
Alma mater	Scripps College
Occupation	Newspaper publisher
Years active	1981–1999
Known for	Publisher of the Manchester Union Leader
Spouses	George Gallowhur ​ ​ (m. 1944; div. 1949)​ William Loeb III ​ ​ (m. 1952; died 1981)​
Children	2
Relatives	E. W. Scripps (grandfather)

Biography

Nackey Loeb was born in Los Angeles on February 24, 1924, as Elizabeth Anne Scripps.^[1]: 30 Her parents were Robert Paine Scripps and Margaret Lou Culbertson.^[2][3] She was always known as Nackey, a name "given to generations of Scripps women".^[1]: 29 Her paternal grandfather, newspaper titan E. W. Scripps, founded the E. W. Scripps Company. Her father died in 1938, shortly after her 14th birthday.^[4] She attended Francis Parker School in San Diego,^[2] then Scripps College, which had been founded by her great-aunt, Ellen Browning Scripps.^[5]

In 1944, Nackey^[a] married George Gallowhur;^[6] inventor of Skol suntan lotion.^[7] The couple (she used Scripps-Gallowhur as her last name) had one daughter; they divorced in November 1949.^[2]

In 1952, Nackey married William Loeb III,^[b] a conservative newspaper publisher who had bought the Manchester Union Leader of Manchester, New Hampshire, in the years after World War II. The Loebs had one daughter, Edith Tomasko, who died in 2014.^[9]

In December 1977, Nackey suffered spinal damage and was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident outside of Reno, Nevada, after the car her husband was driving skidded off the road due to ice and flipped over.^[10] In 1984, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board.^[11]

Nackey helped her husband run the Union Leader for decades until his death in 1981.^[12] She then succeeded him as publisher,^[13] and served until that role until stepping down in May 1999, shortly before her death.^[14] She died on January 8, 2000,^[15] at her home in Goffstown, New Hampshire.^[16]

Legacy

In 1999, she founded the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, a private non-profit school.^[17] Annually, the school issues a First Amendment Award.^[18] The organization retained majority ownership of the Union Leader newspaper until January 2025.^[19][20]

On May 1, 2022, Nackey's daughter from her marriage to George Gallowhur—Nackey E. Gallowhur-Scagliotti—accused her stepfather, William Loeb, of sexually molesting her when she was 7 years old. The Union Leader denounced William Loeb and removed his name from their masthead in response to the accusations.^[21]

Notes

1. Due to surname changes over time, "Nackey" is used for clarity in this article.
2. In August 1949, Loeb had been sued by Gallowhur for having "alienated the affection" of Nackey.^[8]