[3] Through his father's second marriage to Ruth Pruyn (the first wife of Ogden Phipps), he was the elder half-brother to Fiona Field, who married Jean Eugene Paul Kay.
He served as a gunnery officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in a number of engagements in the Pacific and was wounded during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
He had a nervous breakdown and was briefly institutionalized following his father's death in 1956, then took up the reins as the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and Field Enterprises.
[15] They married in Joliet, Illinois,[16] and before their divorce, they were the parents of three children:[17][18] His third marriage, to Julia Lynne Templeton, who previously worked in public relations, was in 1964,[20] and ended with his death the following year.
[2][10] While it was rumored that he had died of an accidental overdose, the Cook County Coroner's office ruled his death as result of natural causes.