after graduation from la salle and rochester institute of technology he got a job as editor at the "rochester times union." he worked his way up and up and up and by 1991, he was president and publisher of "usa today." the nation's largest selling daily newspaper. he also from 1998 to 2003 was president -- vice president of senior vice president of the newspaper, owner, newspaper's owner, gannett. publisher of more than 100 daily newspapers in the united states. tom is retiring from ap at the end of the year. but we will talk about some breaking news from ap in a few minutes. with that, let me turn the floor over to julia kennedy cochran to talk to -- introduce the program and talk a little about her father and also thank members of the family for being here. we are very glad you are all here. thanks. julia? >> good evening and thank you all for being here. three, four years ago when i started this project to publish my father's memoir, which he hadn't been able to get published during his lifetime, it was with great trepidation i wrote a letter to tom curly asking for the ap's help. because,