His mother Ada Norton (née McGrath) persuaded the New South Wales Parliament to backdate the new Testator's Family Maintenance Act to take effect before his father's death.
[2] Norton attempted to widen his papers' range by adding a little discussion of culture, but they soon moved back to their traditional coverage of sport, crime, and divorce.
[2][3] Norton gained a licence from the Minister for Trade and Customs, Eric Harrison, to launch the Daily Mirror in Sydney in 1941.
On Derby Day 1939, Ezra Norton and Frank Packer fought it out literally, with fists, in the members' enclosure at Randwick Racecourse.
[8] In October 1958, Norton and his partners sold their newspapers to the Fairfax group, from whom they were acquired by Rupert Murdoch in 1959.
He was survived by his wife Peggy,[10] their daughter Mary and his adopted son, Dr. John Stanley Norton.