(Newser)
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Former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger has died at age 86, and the Times has a lengthy obituary here about the man it says "transformed" the paper his grandfather bought in 1896. Sulzberger took over in 1964 and ran the newspaper for more than three decades, emphasizing both journalism and the need to make money to finance it. The Times says a "defining moment" for him was the decision to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1971, which led to a landmark Supreme Court case backing up freedom of the press.
The AP's obituary says Sulzberger "led the newspaper to new levels of influence and profit amid some of the most significant moments in 20th-century journalism." It notes that he improved the paper's finances by making it more "reader-friendly" with the introduction of color presses and sections devoted to topics such as science, food, and entertainment. His son Arthur Jr. runs the paper today.
