Taking Over   

The owner of the Boston Herald completes his takeover of Community Newspaper Co. and installs a new editor.

The day before completing his February 1 purchase of a suburban newspaper chain in eastern Massachusetts, Boston Herald Publisher Patrick Purcell names a new top editor and lays off 36 employees, mostly in management and administration, at his new acquisition, Needham-based Community Newspaper Co. Kevin Convey, the Herald's managing editor for daily features and its Sunday edition, is CNC's new editor in chief. Convey replaces Mary Jo Meisner, a former editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and city editor of the Washington Post, who has left the company. A Boston-area native, Convey began his career at the Herald as a business reporter in 1981. He rose to assistant managing editor, left for a three-year stint at Boston magazine and returned to the Herald as Sunday editor in 1990. Purcell praised Meisner for making CNC newspapers into award winners during her four-year tenure. "She has accomplished what she came here to do and I wish her well," he said in a prepared statement. No change at the very top, however. Kirk Davis continues as CNC president and publisher. Purcell's addition of CNC to Herald Media significantly strengthens his ability to compete with the Boston Globe, especially in upscale suburban communities. With a combined circulation of about 900,000, CNC's publications include 87 weeklies, four dailies and 14 shoppers, plus various specialty publications and a Web site. The Herald's daily circulation is about 258,000.