RIP: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger

The former publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Ochs Sulzbereger, died yesterday. He was married later in life to Allison Cowles of The Spokesman-Review family. When the two got engaged years ago, I was asked by our editors to do the engagement story and met with them for about an hour on the newspaper’s sixth floor. They both were reserved but kind and for all their accomplishments, they couldn’t hide the giddy feeling that comes with finding love, no matter your age. In his official New York Times obituary today, Sulzberger’s personal life is overshadowed by all his professional accomplishments. But I understood in that short meeting with the man long ago that his relationships, with his wife to be, his children and extended family, fueled his spirit most of all.

( S-R archives photo: “Fate brought us together,” said Arthur “Punch” Sulzberger, chief executive officer of The New York Times Company, about …Spokane community leader Allison Cowles. 1996 photo.)