NEW YORK: Former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who led the company for 34 years in a period of growth that made it a multibillion-dollar media enterprise, died on Saturday at the age of 86, the newspaper said.
Sulzberger, whose family bought the Times in 1896, died at his home in Southampton, New York, after a lengthy illness, his family said.
Sulzberger, known by his childhood nickname Punch, became publisher of the Times in 1963 and it won 31 Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership. He turned over the publishing job to his son, Arthur Sulzberger Jr, in 1992 and gave him the chairman’s position in 1997.
“Punch, beloved by his colleagues, was one of our industry’s most admired executives,” Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement.
While he has not been active in the company for more than a decade, the elder Sulzberger’s stamp on one of the world’s most influential newspapers is still in place.
He helped the company achieve financial stability, started nationwide distribution, added sections that are now staples in newspapers across the country and took it public in 1969 using a duel class structure in which the family controls around 90 percent of Class B shares.
Sulzberger’s grandfather Adolph S. Ochs purchased the Times in 1896 and the Ochs-Sulzbergers are one of a small group of families in the United States still serving as stewards of newspapers and media empires.
Storied newspaper names like the Pulitzers, Chandlers and Bancrofts have since exited an industry racked with challenges.
Newspapers are suffering from a drastic decline in advertising revenue and a loss of readership as people turn online and to digital products to get their news.
The passing of Sulzberger comes at a time of uncertainty for the Times.
It has been selling off many of its properties and has not paid a dividend in several years. Its share price also has been slumping.
“He was a great champion of the newsroom,” said Joseph Lelyveld, executive editor of the Times from 1994-2001. (PTI)