New York Times Patriarch Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Dead at 86

September 29, 2012 Remembered
New York Times Patriarch Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Dead at 86
AP
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who led The New York Times to new levels of influence and profit, died early Saturday morning at his home in Southampton, N.Y. His death, after a long illness, was announced by his family.

Sulzberger took over as publisher of the newspaper in 1963 and later became the chairman and chief executive of The New York Times company.

During his 34-year tenure, the paper won 31 Pulitzer prizes, published the Pentagon Papers and won a libel case victory in New York Times vs. Sullivan that established important First Amendment protections for the press.

In 1992 Arthur passed the reins as publisher of the Times to his first son, and current publisher of the paper, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.

"Punch, the old Marine captain who never backed down from a fight, was an absolutely fierce defender of the freedom of the press," his son said in a statement.

He added that his father's refusal to back down "helped to expand access to critical information and to prevent government censorship and intimidation."
Filed Under: Top Stories, Remembered

Add Your Comment

  • Please check your inbox ... your comment will not appear until you have confirmed your identity via email.

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put 1 URL in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.