Longtime Richmond publisher Tom Silvestri announces retirement

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Thomas A. Silvestri, president and publisher of the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch for nearly the last 15 years, has announced his retirement.

Silvestri, whose newspaper career spans five decades, will stay on in Richmond until Dec. 31.

Effective immediately, Paul Farrell will become publisher in Richmond. Farrell currently serves as vice president of sales for Lee Enterprises.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a publisher working with outstanding colleagues, in a community whose loyal support of its daily newspapers has been rewarding and in an industry where we keep inventing ways to excel,” Silvestri, who became publisher on Jan. 1, 2005, said in a press release. “It’s time to pass the torch for the next transformation.”

Under Silvestri’s leadership, The Times-Dispatch’s Public Square initiative has become nationally recognized for providing a forum for the Richmond community to learn about and discuss issues of importance in central Virginia.

From 2013-2015, he served as president and chair of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, which in 2018 presented him with its Frank W. Mayborn Leadership Award.

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Tom Silvestri, Paul Farrell, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Lee Enterprises