Michael Gooch: Keeping the Presses Rolling

1983

By Judy Alvarez, Features Editor
Michael (Mickey) Gooch, third owner of The Two River Times, never intended to own a newspaper.
“My purchase of the paper was somewhat impetuous with no particular plan,” he said.
The British-born businessman and his family had been living in the area for years when fellow Two River area resident Geraldo Rivera, then owner of The Two River Times, casually mentioned he was selling the newspaper.
When a prospective buyer who planned to buy the TRT and Rivera’s house fell through, Gooch contacted Rivera, who by this time was living in northern New Jersey. “Geraldo motored to Rumson from – I think Edgewater New Jersey – single-handedly aboard his Hinkley Picnic Boat and docked at my dock on the Navesink,” said Gooch. “We went to lunch and visited the TRT in its old headquarters in an old Victorian House on Broad Street.”
Gooch said he and his family, then-wife Diane and three sons, always enjoyed reading The Two River Times. “Ironically, we were not subscribers but I bought it every weekend at Brennan’s in Rumson unless we were away,” he said. “I enjoyed Geraldo’s column Rough Point, named after his home on the Navesink.”
Inspired by the idea of keeping the newspaper in local hands and with a local thrust, Gooch took the helm of The Two River Times in 2004.
“The paper provides a valuable service to the community with sports, business, entertainment, real estate, political, news coverage, and comment and opinion,” said Gooch, vice chairman of BGC Partners, L.P. and executive chairman of the GFI division of GFI Group Inc., the New York brokerage and software firm he founded in 1987.
He especially enjoyed the Two River People section. “It reminded me of the New York Times – on a local scale,” he said. “And I liked the opportunity to have my own little soapbox with a semi-regular opinion column that I had placed in the same spot as Geraldo’s Rough Point.”
That soapbox turned into a popular column – sometimes humorous, sometimes political, but almost always tongue-in-cheek. “In a play on words I named my column ‘Beside the Point.’ My house on the Navesink River had no name but it was right next to The Point on the Navesink where Gen. Dawkins built his home where a sandspit went out to the channel in the river,” he said. “My play on words was intended to imply that my opinion was not to be taken too seriously.”
Among his columns that he looks back on was one that proved to be predictive. “There was a column one time on social welfare and restrictive business practices that I discovered in Greece on a trip,” he said, “and I wondered how that economy could continue such practices without finding itself in trouble – which came to pass.”
Throughout the years Gooch and Diane, who served as publisher for a time, ran the paper and even launched a feature magazine, TRT The Book, which profiled the people, lifestyles and trends of the area.
During the ten years Gooch owned The Two River Times, the paper continued to cover the charity fundraisers, high school sporting events and the news, as well as the tragedies and crises – including 9/11 terrorist attacks, financial downturn and Super Storm Sandy.
An unstable economy and a changing news world, can prove challenging for small newspapers like The Two River Times. “My greatest accomplishment at the TRT was keeping it publishing and eventually finding a like-minded person to take it over,” he said.
Gooch cites the perks of living in Monmouth County and the Two River area, including the close proximity to the city. “It’s a relatively easy commute with a fast ferry,” he said. “The fact that even on a mid-week day after a pleasant ferry ride home in summer you could be sitting on a porch or sitting on the beach looking at the water…There’s something great about being surrounded by water.”
He counts the dining and entertainment opportunities in the area, including “Count Basie Theatre and Two River Theater right here in Red Bank, as big pluses.”
The area also has the advantages of a strong community. In 2007 he and his family donated the turf and lighting for the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School football field and named it The Two River Times Field.
“My best memories of the Two River Times were making new friends, in particular the staff at the TRT,” Gooch said, “and meeting people I would otherwise not have probably met along the way.”
Nowadays Gooch, who holds dual U.S. and British citizenships, is a Florida resident. He is hopeful for the future of The Two River Times and newspapers, in general. “Apparently local press is one area of the newspaper business that can still be successful in this online age,” he pointed out. “Most of the local news can be garnered online from other outlets but it’s special to have a physical paper.”
“Parents will always enjoy seeing their kids in the paper in sporting and other events and likewise people enjoy seeing themselves and others in the social pages.”
In 2014 Gooch sold The Two River Times to Rumson resident and friend Domenic DiPiero.
“When Domenic was interested in buying the paper, I was glad it would continue to be owned by somebody locally who cares about the community,” Gooch said. “It’s a labor of love.”