Randolph Apperson Hearst (1915-2000)

Randolph Apperson Hearst (December 2, 1915 – December 18, 2000) was the fourth and last surviving son of William Randolph Hearst. His twin brother, David, died in 1986. He was the father of Patty Hearst.

Biography
After his graduation from Harvard University in 1938, Randolph Hearst joined the family business, the Hearst Corporation. Long active in management of the San Francisco Examiner, he eventually became chairman of the Hearst board from 1973 to 1996, at which time he retired in favor of his nephew, George Randolph Hearst, Jr.

He never had the opportunity to become chief executive officer, because his father's will established a trust that had five family (initially his sons, then their heirs) and eight non-family trustees, all serving for life and electing their successors maintaining those proportions. The trustees name the corporation's board of directors, and the trust does not dissolve until all grandchildren of William Randolph Hearst alive at his death have died. It was under Randolph Hearst's chairmanship that the chief executive inherited from his father, Richard E. Berlin, finally retired, but the next three presidents were all also non-family trustees.

On his death, Randolph Hearst's seat as a trustee of his father's will went to Virginia Hearst Randt, second-oldest of his five daughters.

Randolph Hearst was married three times, first in 1938 to Catherine Wood Campbell of Atlanta, Georgia who was the mother of his five daughters, Catherine, Virginia, Patricia, Anne and Victoria. Catherine Hearst was a Roman Catholic and a conservative Regent of the University of California before resigning in 1976.

In 1974, Patty Hearst made front pages nationwide when she was kidnapped by an extremist group, the Symbionese Liberation Army, and was soon after caught on film helping the group to rob banks. She renounced the SLA soon after her arrest. The ordeal placed enormous strain on the Hearst marriage, eventually leading to divorce. After their divorce, the first Mrs. Hearst moved to Beverly Hills.

Randolph Hearst divorced his second wife, Maria Cynthia Scruggs, in 1987 to marry a third wife, Veronica de Gruyter (formerly de Beracasa y de Uribe) that same year. Thirteen years later, the third Mrs. Hearst survived and inherited from him.

He died on December 18, 2000, at the age of 85.