A former publisher of the Warren Times Observer has passed away.

Michael Mead, who also served as publisher of the Erie Times-News and chairman of the Times Publishing Company passed away on Monday at the age of 85, according to an obituary published by the Erie Times-News.

Mead, known as “Mike,” served as publisher of the Times Observer when the Mead family purchased the paper back in the 1960s.

He lived in Warren for nearly a decade while operating in that role. He passed away in Florida where he had been living with his wife, Del, who he married in 1962.

According to the obituary, Mead was born in 1938 and was a grandson of the founder of the Erie Daily Times, the predecessor of the Times-News.

After working at a bank in New York out of college, he and his wife moved to Cambridge, Mass. where he attended the Harvard Business School. From there, he joined the family business.

His obituary says that Mead was “an early adopter of alternative forms of transportation and was seen bicycling to work” while working in Warren. “There, he was a member of the Shakespeare Society and, ever the outdoorsman, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Fish and Game Commission.”

After his time in Warren, per the obituary, his focus shifted to expanding the company’s holding in cable, radio and newspaper.

He’s survived by his wife, four children and eight grandchildren.