Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, former publisher of The New York Times, died at his home in Southampton Saturday. He was 86. His death, after a long illness, was announced by his family, the Times reports. Sulzberger took over as the newspaper's publisher in 1963. The newspaper has been a family run operation since Sulzberger's grandfather Adolph S. Ochs bought the paper in 1896. As publisher and chairman, Sulzberger guided the paper through a long period of growth, transforming the company into a multibillion dollar media enterprise. He passed on the position of publisher to his son 1992 and chairman in 1997. “Adolph Ochs is remembered as the one who founded this great enterprise,” Richard L. Gelb, a longtime member of the Times board, said in 1997, when Mr. Sulzberger stepped down as chairman, the Times reports. “Arthur Ochs Sulzberger will be remembered as the one who secured it, renewed it and lifted it to ever-higher levels of achievement.”
