Winter 2012–13
Obituaries
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger ’51, Longtime New York Times Publisher
Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger ’51, publisher of The New York Times and enterprising chairman of The New York Times Co., died on September 29, 2012. A guardian of free press, Sulzberger guided the Times through a period of expansion that redefined the paper as an authoritative and reputable news source. He was 86 and lived in Southampton, N.Y.
PHOTO: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photo by the New York TimesSulzberger was born on February 5, 1926, in New York City. He jumped from private school to private school in his boyhood, struggling academically and dropping out at 17. He joined the Marines in 1944 and served through the rest of WWII. Sulzberger earned a B.A. in English and history while in the reserves. He was called back to active duty in Korea as a public information officer and finished his service in Washington, D.C., in 1952.
In 1953, Sulzberger started at The Milwaukee Journal, completing a year’s apprenticeship before joining the family business at The New York Times, where his father, Arthur Hays Sulzberger (Class of 1913), was publisher. The younger Sulzberger started on the foreign copy desk, spending time in the London, Paris and Rome bureaus. Despite fears that he was not cut out to be publisher himself, he took over in 1963 when his brother-in-law, Orvil E. Dryfoos, who had served as publisher after Sulzberger’s father stepped down, died suddenly.
At 37, Sulzberger became the youngest publisher in the Times’ history. During the next 30 years, he transformed a paper in shaky financial condition into a diverse and profitable enterprise. After shutting down the paper’s money-losing West Coast edition and instituting a budget, Sulzberger expanded the paper and the company. He oversaw the creation of new sections, the daily use of color pictures and graphics, a national edition and special regional editions as well as the acquisition of other newspapers and magazines.
Sulzberger stepped down as publisher in 1992 and as chairman in 1997. His years as publisher were not without controversy, most famously his decision to print the secret government history of the Vietnam War, known as the Pentagon Papers, in 1971. When the federal government obtained a restraining order requiring the Times to withdraw the story, the paper appealed the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. That June, the court upheld the newspaper’s right to publish despite the imposition of “prior restraint.” It was a landmark ruling on press freedom.
After stepping down from the paper, Sulzberger continued his work as chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was a Columbia University trustee emeritus and received the Alexander Hamilton Medal in 1982.
Sulzberger’s first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife died in 1995 and his third wife in 2010. He is survived by his children, Cathy, Arthur Jr., Karen and Cynthia; nine grandchildren, including Simon Lax ’09; and sisters, Marian S. Heiskell and Ruth S. Holmberg.
Karl Daum ’15