Former New York Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Dies at 86

NEW YORK (The Blaze/AP) — Former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger has died at age 86.

The newspaper reported that his family said Sulzberger died Saturday at his home in Southampton, N.Y., after a long illness. He had retired in 1992 after three decades at the paper's helm and was succeeded by his son, Arthur Jr.

Sulzberger's family has controlled the newspaper since his grandfather Arthur Ochs acquired it in 1896.

The company has struggled in recent years but during Sulzberger's tenure it reached new levels of influence and profit.

The newspaper 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 a note to New York Times employees obtained by the Poynter Institute, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said "Punch," as his father was known, "always believed that by closely adhering to our Company’s most fundamental precepts we would greatly enhance our ability to produce outstanding journalism."

"Punch will be sorely missed by his family and his many friends, but we can take some comfort in the fact that his legacy and his abiding belief in the value of quality news and information will always be with us," Sulzberger wrote.