His father was chosen as publisher of The Bradenton Evening Herald, and he moved to Florida with his family when he was five years old.

[1] He attended The Citadel, graduating with a business degree in 1942; at the age of 19 he was named Regimental Commander, the highest-ranking member of the Corps of Cadets.

[1] After returning from military service, Chapman was hired by the Ledger-Enquirer, where he ultimately became the paper's business manager.

[1] Chapman was hired in 1953 as the executive vice president and general manager of the St. Petersburg Times, where he introduced a profit sharing program and developed metrics for employee performance.

[4] During Chapman's tenure at Knight Ridder, the chain's newspapers won a total of 33 Pulitzer Prizes and revenues increased threefold.

He was involved in an effort to rebuild portions of Homestead, Florida and Southern Miami-Dade County that had been severely damaged during 1992's Hurricane Andrew and was part of a $2 billion Downtown Miami renewal project.