Charles Tiedtke Brumback, 86, who grew up in Ottawa Hills and served as president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Tribune and later as leader of the Tribune Co., died Monday.

Mr. Brumback died after a prolonged illness while living in Winter Park, Fla., at the Mayflower Retirement Community, said his son, Charles, Jr.

Born Sept. 27, 1928, a mere 20 minutes after his twin, Martha Ellen Brumback, he was part of a well-known northwest Ohio family. His mother’s father was Charles Tiedtke, who operated the much-loved downtown Toledo department store with Mr. Tiedtke’s brother, Ernest.

Though he spent most of his career working for newspaper companies in Orlando, Fla., and Chicago, the elder Mr. Brumback appreciated his connection to Toledo, his son said.

“He had a very soft spot in his heart for and fondness for Toledo, as does the whole family,” he said.

After he retired, Mr. Brumback served as a consultant for Block Communications Inc., based on his many years of experience in the newspaper industry.

“He was one of the best businessmen I’ve ever dealt with and one of the best media executives I’ve had the honor to know,” said Allan Block, chairman of Block Communications, the parent company of The Blade.

“He could not have been nicer,” Mr. Block said. “He offered us friendship and advice.”

Mr. Brumback attended school in Ottawa Hills through eighth grade before going to the then-named Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind., for high school. After graduating in 1946, he studied economics at Princeton University and graduated in 1950.

The year after his graduation, Mr. Brumback married Mary Howe, a schoolmate of his sister’s at Abbot Academy in Andover, Mass. His wife died in 2009.

As a first lieutenant in the Army, Mr. Brumback was awarded a Bronze Star after returning from service in Korea in 1953.

During his time in Toledo, he worked for an accounting firm, Wideman, Madden, Dolan & Co., which later became Arthur Young & Co.

In 1957, he accepted an offer he described as “too good to pass up” and went to work as controller for the Sentinel Star Co. in Orlando. With his business savvy and accounting background, he climbed the ranks, becoming president and chief executive officer in 1976.

After more than two decades with the Florida newspaper, he moved to Chicago to be the president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Tribune in 1981. The Tribune Co. had acquired the Sentinel in 1965, and he had garnered a reputation for making the Florida newspaper a very profitable part of the parent company, his son said.

“It was a significant opportunity. He had done an awful lot in Orlando,” he said.

During the ensuing years, he provided guidance as the newspaper and the corporation dealt with major labor strikes and went public. In 1990, he became president and chief executive officer of the Tribune Co., and later board chairman. He retired at the end of 1995.

Throughout his career, he realized the power of technology and its potential to change the world. His son recalled how in the mid 1970s, his father purchased an early home computer. Back when “nobody knew what a computer was,” his father would be in his home office “typing away.”

“He realized even then that was going to be incredibly important for the future,” his son said, adding that his father even forced him to take typing classes.

Despite his long career in newspapers, Mr. Brumback was not a “news junkie,” his son said.

“I think he appreciated the newspaper business. I think he enjoyed the newspaper business,” he said. “He saw it for what it was, which was a business like frankly any other business.”

After retirement, he and his wife eventually moved full-time to Sarasota, Fla. About 15 years ago, he and his youngest son bought a citrus grove in Florida. The elder Mr. Brumback provided business advice and general guidance regarding the operation, which was sold last year.

His hobbies over the years included growing orchids and, later, going to Chicago Cubs games.

His son recalled his father as fair and “honest to a fault.”

“He was always looking to do the right thing while at the same time being mindful of and sensitive of the consequences,” he said.

Mr. Brumback is survived by his sons, Charles, Jr., and Wesley W.; daughters, Anne Brumback Meyer and Ellen Brumback Allen; brother, John S., Jr.; sister, Cynthia Brumback Wang, and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Park Lake Presbyterian Church in Orlando. There will not be services in Ohio. The body will be cremated and the remains will be placed with Mr. Brumback’s family members in Historic Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo. Woodlawn is the final resting place for many of Toledo’s founding families and pillars of the business, corporate, and social communities.

The family suggests tributes to the Culver Educational Foundation in Culver, Ind.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.

First Published January 13, 2015, 5:00 a.m.