By JIMMY LAWTON

North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg Mayor Wayne Ashley held a moment of silence Monday to honor Charles W. Kelly, longtime community volunteer and publisher, during the City Council meeting.

Kelly spent more than half a century working for and leading multiple newspapers in St. Lawrence County, died Sunday morning. He was 83.

Kelly was also one of St. Lawrence County’s most prominent community leaders. He received the Volunteer of the Year Award for his efforts in getting state officials to approve construction Ogdensburg and Riverview Correctional Facility in 1983. More recently, he led successful efforts to keep the Ogdensburg’s prisons and the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center from closing.

Following the death of editor and publisher Frank R. Little in 1974, Kelly was named the Editor of The Ogdensburg Journal and general manager of St. Lawrence County Newspapers in 1975. The publications included the Journal, Advance News, Daily Courier-Observer, Malone Telegram, St. Lawrence Plaindealer, Canton and the Rural News.

He was responsible supervision of all St. Lawrence County Newspaper properties including editorial, financial, production, distribution, and general supervision of all publications. In 2010 at age 75, Kelly retired after 56 years of service. He was recognized with an article in the New York Times, which can be read at https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/nyregion/03editor.html .