It’s been 116 years, but Friday is Tom Northrop’s last day at the Observer-Reporter.

Two weeks ago, the Observer Publishing Company made it public that it had sold all assets to Ogden Newspapers, Inc. based in Wheeling, West Virginia. Ogden, owned and operated by the principal owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bob Nutting, will take over operations of the Observer’s publications–including The Observer-Reporter, The Almanac and numerous monthly special interest magazines.

For Northrop, president and publisher of the Observer Publishing Company, the final days before the sale closes are  “surreal.” Five generations of Northrops have worked at Observer Publishing since the family bought the company in 1902.

But Northrop and his sister, Lucy Northrop, aren’t  staying at the company after the sale finalizes. Now, there isn’t much more for him to do to prepare.

“At this point sort of, I’m a lame duck,” he said. “Technically next Friday will be my last day.”

Northrop said the board voted at the end of April to sell the company’s assets. He said it had become too difficult to run the business, which has been family-owned since its inception. The shareholders settled on the sale, “although no one really wanted it,” he said.

“It’s mostly about the economy of scale and we’re just not able to share expense over multiple locations,” Northrop said. With shareholders across different states, this was the most opportune time to sell, he said.

Northrop said selling seemed like the only way to keep Observer Publishing’s publications running.

“As hard as it is, I do feel that this is the right decision,” Northrop said. “My primary goal was to make sure that the Observer-Reporter continued for another 100 years. And I think I’ve accomplished that goal. My second goal would be to preserve as many jobs of employees as I could.”

Ogden Newspapers, Inc. bought another newspaper last summer, The Herald-Standard out of Uniontown. After the sale, at least 50 employees of The Herald were laid off, including the newspaper’s entire photography department.

Northrop understands why employees at The Observer-Reporter have expressed concern that the same drastic cuts and layoffs could happen in their newsroom.

“People are afraid because of the uncertainty,” he said. “But I also think that each of the newspapers that Ogden has purchased has their own separate reality and that you can’t really compare one to the other.”

Northrop hopes the Observer Publishing Company has been efficient enough with funds and staffing that layoffs will not be necessary.

“They’ve told us that in our case there aren’t that many changes that they’re going to be able to make, at least initially, because of how efficient we’ve been,” Northrop said. But change would have been inevitable, he said, to some degree. “If we hadn’t taken this step, we probably would have had to have more staff reductions.”

For his part, Northrop believes Ogden will only provide more opportunities to Observer Publishing’s publications and employees. There are possibilities to increase the Observer-Reporter’s coverage area, he said, and employees may be able to work up the ranks in Ogden Newspapers to reach new success.

“I just think they need to give it a chance,” he said.

For now, though, the feeling of handing over the family company to outside hands is challenging, Northrop said.

The next few weeks will be busy, he said, as he works toward shutting down different parts of the company the family built up throughout the past century. He said he still plans to remain involved in the community, just in a different capacity: he is chairman of the board of Washington Health Systems, a member of the Washington County Community Foundation board and he is working on a “business incubator” program at Washington & Jefferson College. Begrudgingly, Northrop said, he is moving forward.

“This was an extremely difficult decision for family to make,” he said. “But I think, ultimately, the correct one for the future of the paper.”