The American newspaper publisher Arthur Sulzberger Sr died at the age of 86.Mr Sulzberger led The New York Times for more than three decades,before passing the business to his son.He took over the paper in 1963 when it was in financial trouble,and transformed it into the heart of a multibillion dollar media empire. His family announced he had died at his home in Southampton,New York State,after a long illness.His son,Arthur Sulzberger Jr,said in a statement that his father,whom he referred to by his childhood nickname of Punch,was "one of our industry's most admired executives"."Punch,the old Marine captain who never backed down from a fight,was an absolutely fierce defender of the freedom of the press," he said. The New York Times was bought by Mr Sulzberger Sr's grandfather Adolph Ochs in 1896.During Mr Sulzberger's tenure,The New York Times won 31 Pulitzer prizes. Born in New York City,5 February 1926,Sr served in Marine Corps during World War II and Korean War,joined   The New York Times in 1951 after graduating from Columbia  College,took over as publisher in 1963 after his brotherinlaw died suddenly,stepped down in 1997 and passed stewardship to his son,Arthur Sulzberger Jr. He oversaw a huge circulation boost at the paper,and increased its parent company's annual revenues   from  $100m in 1963 to $1.7bn by the time he stepped down in 1997.He also led the paper through highlevel clashes with the  political establishment.In 1971,The Times published a series of stories saying that politicians had systematically lied over the US involvement in Vietnam.The source was thousands of leaked government documents known as the Pentagon Papers.The Nixon  administration  demanded  that  the  paper  stop publishing the stories on grounds of national security.But the paper refused,and then won the subsequent court case by arguing that the First Amendment of the US Constitution   guaranteed free speech.The case is seen as a landmark in the history of free speech in the US.Mr Sulzberger said he read more than 7,000 pages of the Pentagon Papers before personally deciding to publish them. His family still holds a controlling stake   in The New York Times.He was a strong believer in family ownership  of newspapers.He once joked:"My conclusion is  simple. _ works." Punch,the old Marine captain was actually  _  .
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