Ted Remsnyder is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the former owner and publisher of the Daily Mail, Gunther Hafner, died March 11 in Queensbury, at the age of 82. Friends and colleagues are remembering Hafner as an enterprising and commanding presence in Greene County. Born in January 1940, Hafner graduated from Catskill High School and went on to serve four years in the U.S. Navy before returning to Greene County to launch his career in the newspaper business. He was hired at the Daily Mail in 1961 to work in the mail room, and from there made his way up in the company, then owned by the Conland family of Connecticut. Hafner held a variety of jobs with the paper, working as the circulation manager, advertising manager and general manager before moving up into an ownership position. Current Managing Editor Raymond Pignone remembered Hafner as a hands-on publisher who was not afraid to roll up his sleeves to get the job done. “Gunther was a very hard-working publisher,” Pignone said. “He started out as an advertising rep, but even when he was a publisher, he would go out on the street with a camera and take news photos and photos for ads. He would go out and promote the paper and sell ads, even when he was the publisher.” Hafner retired in 1989, and sold the publication to the Johnson Newspaper Corporation. He was a longtime fixture in the Catskill community, with memberships with the Catskill Elks Club, the Greene County Council of the Arts, the Catskill Rotary Club and the Catskill Merchants Association. He also sponsored local sports organizations including the Catskill Little League. Hafner is survived by his wife Lucille, son Mark, daughters Stacey and Kym Bongiorno as well as nine grandchildren. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.