BEND — Elizabeth “Betsy” McCool, former chairwoman of the board for The Bulletin’s parent company until 2019, died Monday.

She was 65.

McCool was a believer in women’s rights and a lover of family, horses and dogs, according to her family. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2021, and was a fighter to the end, said her daughter Mallory McCool.

“She handled things like a champ,” Mallory McCool said.

McCool was the chairwoman of Western Communications Inc., the parent company of The Bulletin, from 1993 until 2019, when The Bulletin was sold during a bankruptcy hearing to EO Media, according to archived stories. McCool was also named publisher until the Chapter 11 bankruptcy was finalized in July 2019.

The Bulletin was part of a newspaper chain founded by McCool’s father, Robert Chandler, who bought the Bend newspaper in 1953.

Erik Lukens, the former editor of The Bulletin, said McCool fought hard for the paper.

“Betsy poured her heart and soul into The Bulletin and Western Communications,” said Lukens. “Her leadership and generosity enabled The Bulletin during her tenure to produce excellent journalism and punch well above its weight as a local newspaper.”

Gordon Black, who was the publisher from 1993-2015, said McCool allowed him to grow the company to the nine-newspaper chain it became.

“My first thoughts were for her daughters,” said Black from his home in Tennessee. “Betsy brought me to Bend after a 20-year career with Gannett.”

She presided over more than two decades of hard work.

“We had a bunch of successes,” Black said. “You couldn’t ask for a better boss.”

In 1998, under McCool’s leadership, Western Communications bought the Union Democrat, a daily newspaper in Sonora, California. The Union Democrat became the company’s ninth newspaper, with publications in Central, Eastern and Southern Oregon and Northern California.

Steve Forrester, CEO of EO Media Group, said that he had first met McCool when she was a child and he’d come to Bend as a pollster and to talk with Chandler. Forrester’s family and the Chandlers were both owners of Oregon newspaper chains.

“They were family friends with us,” Forrester said. “I only got to know Betsy in the waning days of the bankruptcy. I felt sympathy for the very difficult situation she faced. “

While the bankruptcy and sale to EO Media are big events in the newspaper’s history, it didn’t define who McCool was. Her family declined to talk about it.

Her sister Patsy Moss, who lives in La Pine, said that years ago when Moss moved from the country to the city of Bend, McCool adopted her dog Trudy so the dog could have room to run.

“She had a soft spot in her heart for dogs and her family,” Moss said. “She had the most wonderful daughters. They nursed her and took care of her.”

A native of Bend, McCool often could be seen riding horses on trails in the mountains and by the lakes of Central Oregon, said her friend Marilyn Beem.

“We camped together. We vacationed together. We rode horses together,” Beem said. “She was never afraid to try new things and never afraid to go out in the wilderness.”

Sometimes when the pair were out riding, McCool would break out in a made-up song about her dog Billie, Beem said.

“She had a great sense of humor,” Beem said. “She was competitive in the hunter ring and jumping. She was a part of that equestrian world. She was an outdoorswoman.”

And don’t ever call her a fisherman. She was a fisher woman, a woman who appreciated the outdoors, Beem said.

“She did not let anyone take advantage of her. She was a strong woman and not afraid to face anyone,” said her sister Peggy Cushman.

The past five years had been difficult for McCool, Cushman said. McCool’s husband, Daniel, died in 2018. They owned a horse ranch and equestrian center called Horse Butte Equestrian Center.

“She dealt with a lot of difficult things in her short life,” Cushman said.

At the end, McCool was surrounded by her daughters, said Beem.

Services are pending. McCool is survived by three daughters, Alex McCool, Kathleen McCool Skatvold and Mallory McCool. She is predeceased by Kristen McCool, who died in 1984. She is also survived by four sisters: Janet Stevens, Margaret “Peggy” Cushman, Mary Jean “Cookie” Chandler and Patricia “Patsy” Moss. Her brother, Robert, died in 2016.