Bill Hartman, 79, died Monday at a Sugar Land hospital, according to a report from the Fort Bend Herald, which he owned.

A longtime newspaperman, Hartman operated Hartman Newspapers, Inc., which has operated newspapers in communities in Oklahoma and Texas, including the Katy Times from 1973-2019.

Hartman was a 1959 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown and later graduated from Baylor University in 1962. He later returned to Baytown as general manager of the Baytown Sun under his father. From 1971-1974 he was editor and publisher of the Beaumont Enterprise & Journal.

In 1974, he founded Hartman Newspapers.

Hartman was active in the Fort Bend County community, having served as president of the Rosenberg-Richmond Area Chamber of Commerce; chairman of the board for the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council; director of Polly Ryon Memorial Hospital, former chairman of the Fort Bend County Mobility Task Force; former president of the Rosenberg Rotary Club and past director of the Fort Bend County Fair Association.

Hartman is survived by his three children, Fred Hartman and his wife Laura of Austin; Lee Hartman and his wife Shannon of Sugar Land; and Lizz Sansone and husband Chris Sansone of Sugar Land. He has six grandchildren, Drew and Kate Hartman of Sugar Land and Julia and Blake Hartman of Austin as well as Alex and Ella Stapleton of Austin. He has one surviving sister, Mary Hartman Brown of Baytown.

Hartman was president of the Texas Daily Newspapers Association in 1977 and earned the Pat Taggart newspaper Leader of the Year award by TDNA in 2004.

The Katy Times expresses our sincere appreciation for Hartman’s service to the newspaper industry. We also send our deepest condolences to our colleagues at Hartman Newspapers and those who knew and loved him.