Richard E. Blair, 77, who worked in news at the Grand Forks Herald in the 1970s, was found dead in his Fargo home Tuesday.
He was single and had no children.
Blair ran for mayor of Fargo four times, always coming in last. In his final try in 2006, he received 43 votes to the winner's 6,434.
He also worked for a time at the St. Cloud Times and attempted to publish a newspaper in Fargo in 1991, but it shut down after one printing. In the early 1980s, he was more successful in starting a TV station, which eventually became the Fox affiliate KVRR, according to an account in The Forum.
In another not-so-successful effort, Blair proposed establishing a new university in Fargo. He managed to assemble and coach a basketball team for the University of Fargo-Moorhead -- which played in one game, a loss to the University of Manitoba -- but the school itself never existed.
