A newspaper publisher who spent nearly five decades helping tell the story of West Parry Sound
People of Parry Sound Project
The Parry Sound North Star chronicled the life of West Parry Sound. Week after week, its pages recorded council meetings, school concerts, elections, business openings, championship hockey teams, community fundraisers, and the countless everyday moments that together tell the story of a community. Generations of residents opened the paper to see familiar names and faces, rarely thinking about the people who worked behind the scenes to produce it.
Fred Heidman spent nearly five decades at the Parry Sound North Star, learning every part of the newspaper business before eventually becoming Publisher and General Manager. He set lead type by hand, sold advertising, managed production, and helped guide the paper through decades of change. Long before any of that, though, he was simply one of eight children growing up in Parry Sound.
"I didn't sit around."
His father worked in construction while his mother managed a busy household. As the second oldest, Fred learned early that everyone contributed. There were newspapers to deliver, lawns to mow, and jobs to take whenever the opportunity arose. Looking back, he laughs at the idea of sitting still.
During high school, he worked at the arena, scraping and flooding the ice between hockey games before eventually driving the resurfacer. In the summer the arena became a roller skating rink, and Fred was back at work again. Earning money mattered, but so did being part of the community. Those jobs introduced him to people from every corner of town and gave him an early appreciation for the value of showing up and doing your part.
Much of his childhood happened outdoors. Growing up around Wood Street and Georgina Street, he and his friends spent their days exploring the shoreline near the salt docks, swimming whenever they could, catching smelts, and playing street hockey until it grew dark. If nobody remembered to bring a bucket, the fish simply went into their pockets until it was time to head home.
Downtown Parry Sound was just as much a part of daily life. Friday evenings were busy as families came into town to shop, restaurants filled with customers, and neighbours stopped to talk along Main Street.
"It's where everybody met," Fred says.
Many of those places have disappeared over the years, but the memories remain clear. One of them is the old Victory Restaurant across from the North Star. During long production nights, staff would often slip across the street for coffee before returning to finish another edition. Those breaks became part of the routine, just as much as the deadlines themselves.
Long before he worked for the newspaper, Fred found himself paying attention to the people around him. His jobs, his time at the arena, and the friendships he built through organizations such as the Legion introduced him to residents from across the community. He enjoyed hearing their stories and understanding what was happening around town.
"I was always trying to learn as much as I could about what was going on in the community," he says.
Learning the Newspaper Business
After finishing high school, journalism was not part of the plan. Like many young people, Fred considered several different careers, including joining the RCMP. He worked a few jobs, spent some time away from Parry Sound, and eventually returned home, unsure of what would come next.
His older brother Gerry was already working as a pressman at the Parry Sound North Star when he mentioned there was an opening for a compositor apprentice. Fred decided to give it a try.
The newspaper Fred walked into looked very different from anything people would recognize today. There were no computers or digital page layouts. Advertisements, headlines, theatre programs, resort brochures, and newspaper pages were assembled using individual pieces of lead type.
Working alongside compositor Earl Burr, Fred learned to build each line by hand, selecting one small metal letter at a time and placing it into a composing stick. A misplaced letter or an uneven space could mean taking the line apart and starting again. It was detailed work that demanded patience and concentration, but Fred enjoyed watching a collection of loose pieces of type slowly become something people would eventually read.
When the forms were ready, they went to the press, where Jerry printed the finished pages. The brothers often saw the newspaper move from one stage of production to the next, with Fred assembling the pages and Jerry printing them. Fred remembers the satisfaction of seeing something he had worked on by hand become part of the newspaper that would soon be in readers' homes.
"It sort of settled in," Fred says. "This is my life going forward."
As his responsibilities grew, Fred moved beyond composition into advertising production, sales, circulation, production management, and operations. If there was a job to be done around the newspaper, chances are he had done it, with one notable exception.
"I was too busy doing the other jobs," he says with a laugh when asked why he never became a reporter.
Even so, Fred was rarely far from the news itself. If there was a community event that needed photographs, he might grab a camera and head out. On other days he was meeting with local businesses about advertising or helping solve whatever problem had surfaced before another edition went to press.
By the time Fred became General Manager, he knew the newspaper from the composing room to the press, advertising, circulation, and production. He had learned the business by doing the work alongside the people who produced it each week.
Becoming General Manager
By the mid nineteen seventies, Fred had become General Manager of the Parry Sound North Star. If someone needed help in production, advertising, circulation, or another part of the newspaper, Fred understood the work because he had done it himself.
"I worked with the staff," he says.
"They didn't work for me. I worked with them."
Staff were given room to make decisions and try things for themselves. Mistakes happened, but Fred was more interested in helping someone figure out what went wrong than taking the work away from them.
Some of those employees eventually moved on to other opportunities. Brian Louch was one of them. After working around the newspaper, Brian approached Fred with an idea to start his own delivery company. Fred supported the idea, and before long Brian's business was transporting the North Star to the printing plant and delivering completed newspapers back to Parry Sound each week.
"I was very proud," Fred says.
The newspaper also introduced Fred to publishers and managers from across Ontario. One of them, publisher Michael Atkins, shared a piece of advice that stayed with him throughout his career.
"You don't have to be smart to be successful. You just have to hire the right people who are smart to make you look good."
Fred still laughs when he repeats the story.
Journalism and Integrity
On one occasion, an advertiser objected to an editorial and threatened to pull their advertising unless the newspaper changed its position. For a community newspaper, that was not a small decision. Advertising paid the bills, and losing a major customer affected more than a single edition of the paper.
"If we didn't stand behind our people," he says, "then my job wasn't being done properly."
Some advertisers did leave. Others eventually came back. The editorial remained unchanged.
Reporters were expected to get the story right. If they questioned a council decision or reported on a controversial issue, they needed documents, interviews, and facts to support what they had written.
Complaints occasionally followed, but Fred wanted to know whether the reporting was accurate. If the facts supported the story, the newspaper stood behind it.
The North Star also took the same approach during election campaigns. Municipal, provincial, and federal candidates were given an opportunity to present their views, but the newspaper did not endorse candidates.
Court reporting followed the same principle. When someone appeared before the courts, the story did not end with the charge. The newspaper continued reporting until the case was resolved.
Community Leadership
Over the years, Fred served with a number of community organizations, including the Rotary Club, the Kinsmen Club, regional economic development initiatives, and the West Parry Sound Health Centre Board.
"I'm very community oriented," he says. "I like helping or doing things."
Serving on the hospital board gave Fred a view of an organization he had known all his life from the outside. Like many people, he had thought of a hospital largely in terms of the doctors and nurses who cared for patients. Sitting around the board table introduced him to everything else that had to happen to keep a hospital running.
"You don't realize how many people are involved in making a hospital run," he says.
Economic development was another area that interested him. Fred had spent years watching businesses open and close, employers come and go, and the town adjust to changes in the local economy. He wanted to see Parry Sound attract new businesses while supporting the people who were already building their lives and livelihoods here.
That interest also found its way into his work at the North Star. In addition to publishing the newspaper, the company produced Fun in the Sun and Fun in the Snow, publications that introduced visitors to local businesses, accommodations, attractions, and recreational opportunities throughout West Parry Sound.
For Fred, promoting the area and participating in the organizations that served it were simply part of living here. He attended the meetings, served on the boards, helped with projects, and stayed involved.
Technology and Change
Fred began his newspaper career setting individual pieces of lead type by hand. Photographs were prepared using specialized equipment, pages were assembled manually, and the finished forms were carried to the press. As the years passed, each stage of that process began to change. New printing methods replaced type set by hand, computers became part of page production, and by the time Fred retired, complete editions could be sent electronically to a commercial printing plant.
As new equipment arrived, there was always something else to learn. The newspaper invested in improved printing technology, better photo reproduction, and eventually computers that changed how pages were designed.
"They made our product better," he says.
One of the biggest changes came with the launch of ParrySound.com. Fred is quick to credit his son, Dan, for leading that work. Dan understood the possibilities of the internet, and his knowledge helped move the North Star into a new era. Fred supported the idea from the beginning.
Even with those changes, he still enjoys reading a printed newspaper. Not everyone wants to read the news on a phone or computer, he says. A newspaper can be folded and shared across the kitchen table. It becomes part of the community's record in a way that feels different from reading a story on a screen.
When the conversation turns to social media and artificial intelligence, Fred's concern isn't the technology itself, but knowing where the information came from.
He worries about the communities that no longer have a local newspaper. Without someone attending council meetings, asking questions, and following stories over time, important decisions can pass unnoticed. For Fred, the value of local journalism has never been tied to the technology used to produce it. Whether the story appears on paper or on a screen, the responsibility remains the same.
"If you've got a newspaper," he says, "you know who's responsible for what you're reading."
Recognition and Reflection
In 2024, Fred was inducted into the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Hall of Fame, recognizing nearly fifty years in the newspaper business.
"It was very humbling," he says.
As Fred looks back on the day, he talks as much about the people in the room as the award itself. The ceremony also gave him a chance to reconnect with publishers, editors, and colleagues he had known over the years. Those conversations come up almost as readily as the award.
When Fred retired, his daughter Janice, joined the North Star, continuing the family's connection to the newspaper.
Why He Stayed in Parry Sound
Over the years, Fred had opportunities that could have taken him elsewhere. Larger communities offered bigger newspapers and different career paths, but Parry Sound remained home.
When asked if there is a question he wishes people had asked him over the years, his answer comes quickly.
“Why did you stay in Parry Sound?”
“Because I love the town. I love the area. I love the people.”
Fred has watched Parry Sound change considerably during his lifetime. He remembers years when major employers closed and the community had to adjust, as well as periods when growth seemed harder to imagine. More recently, he has watched new housing being built, improvements along the waterfront, and new families choosing to make West Parry Sound their home.
He likes seeing the community grow and believes there is still plenty of opportunity ahead. At the same time, he hopes some things remain familiar. He still values the kind of town where people know one another, stop to talk, and feel connected to what is happening around them.
One Edition at a Time
Week after week, the Parry Sound North Star arrived on doorsteps throughout West Parry Sound. Its pages carried council decisions, business openings, election results, community celebrations, sports scores, school events, photographs of familiar faces, and the everyday stories of the people who lived here.
Fred spent nearly fifty years helping put those stories on the page. Most readers never saw the late production nights, the conversations with reporters and advertisers, or the countless decisions involved in getting another edition finished. Fred was rarely the person whose name appeared in the stories. He was usually somewhere behind them, working with the people who made sure the newspaper arrived each week.
Today, decades of North Star editions remain on library shelves, in archives, and in family collections. Open an old issue and you might find a council debate that has long since been settled, a championship team celebrating together, the announcement of a new business, or a photograph of someone you know.
For Fred, it was simply the work he chose to do in the town where he chose to stay. For nearly fifty years, that meant helping tell the stories of West Parry Sound, one edition at a time.
Context and References
This profile is part of the People of Parry Sound Project, an ongoing initiative documenting the lives and contributions of individuals who have helped shape the West Parry Sound community.
The article is based on a recorded oral history interview with Fred Heidman, community submissions from colleagues, friends, and former employees, publicly available historical information, and records relating to the Parry Sound North Star and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Hall of Fame.
- Fred was inducted into the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Hall of Fame
- Heidman, Kingshott to retire from North Star
- Heidman handing over North Star reins
- North Star celebrates 140 years, Community newspaper’s archives officially handed over to West Parry Sound District Museum
- History of the Parry Sound North Star
- Parry Sound North Star
Media of Fred Heidman
Listen to a short narration of Fred's story
Watch a short narration of Fred's Story
History of North Star
In 1869 Thomas McMurray pioneered the first newspaper to serve not only the town of Parry Sound but the district as well. It was called the Northern Advocate. In September of that same year Mr. McMurray moved the Advocate to Bracebridge where it was subsequently merged into the Free Grant Gazette.
He returned to Parry Sound in 1874 and printed the first issue of the North Star on October 1st of that year. A summary of the new journal, dated 1874 and carefully preserved by the North Star, is very interesting.
In it Mr. Murray states that the main objective of the North Star will be the settlement of immense tracts of wild lands situated in the Free Grant District “…convinced of superior water facilities of this country, and the varied advantages which it possess for manufacturing purposes…abounds of mineral wealth. Our aim is to encourage manufacturers, promote development and secure Railway Communication at the earliest possible date….” Through the files of the North Star we find this tradition has been carried on to this day. The North Star has always been one of the leaders in progress, growth and development for this area.
In February, 1879, McMurray sold the paper to B. Noel Fisher who conducted the paper with vigor until November of that year when he was drowned by the wrecking of the Waubuno. Mr. William Ireland, the editor, purchased the paper in January of 1880 and continued the sole management and ownership until July, 1895, when he took into partnership with Mr. W.H. Bundy. The paper was now the foremost journal of Northern Ontario, with a six column quarto and one of the best in the Province of Ontario.
The Parry Sound Canadian was started in the spring of 1895 by Mr. Thomas W Whalley and in 1896 it passed into the hands of Mr. Charles Sarney. In June of 1938 the North Star subsequently bought the Canadian and its publication discontinued.
Shortly after, a syndicate of local men bought the North Star from Mr. Ireland and John Scoobie Dick became Managing editor in 1918.
Harvey Derbyshire Wing purchased the North Star in 1928 and upon his death in 1946 his son, also Harvey, took over as publisher and his wife Agnes became editor. Harvey Wing Jr. took the North Star to twice a week in November of 1962 with the first Tuesday Issue sold on November 6th of that year. He brought in new equipment, a Ludlow type caster, and a Kleisograph image-maker and replaced the press with a new Goss press.
In 1973 M.W. (Morry) Barr purchased the North Star and brought the paper out of the hot metal era and into the world of offset, known in the industry as cold type. He brought in Compugraphic equipment, the latest trend in the newspaper business, putting the Star in step with the rest of the industry. In the same year Barr, who also owned the Almaguin News in Burks Falls appointed Fred Heidman as General Manager and hired Jack Thompson as editor.
From: History of the Parry Sound North Star
The People of Parry Sound Project documents the lives and stories of individuals connected to Parry Sound and the surrounding region. Through portraits and conversations, the project aims to capture the voices and experiences that shape the community.
