Sackler had somewhat unusual overlapping businesses and developed silent partnerships with the L. W. Frolich ad agency and MD Publications owned by his friends. In 1958, Sackler established the Laboratories for Therapeutic Research. He was director of the facility until 1983. Sackler also served as chairman of the board of Medical Press, Inc. and president of Physicians News Service, Inc., as well as the Medical Radio and TV Institute, Inc. He served on the board of trustees of New York Medical College where he also held a position as a research professor of psychiatry. In 1981, Sackler served as vice-chairman of the first international conference on nutrition held in Tianjin, China. He joined the board of directors of "Scientific American" in 1985. In 1985, Linus Pauling dedicated his book "How to Live Longer and Feel Better" to him. In 1997, Arthur was posthumously inducted into the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame. Sackler built and contributed to many scientific institutions, throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His notable contributions included:  Sackler donated drawings and paintings by the Italian architect and engraver Giovanni Battista Piranesi to Avery Library at Columbia University in the early 1970s. He founded galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the Sackler Wing houses the Temple of Dendur, and Princeton University, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology. In 1987, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. was opened months after his death, with a gift of $4 million and 1,000 original artworks. Sackler's collection that was donated to the Smithsonian was considered the largest collection of ancient Chinese art in the world according to Wen Fong of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Following his death, The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries was opened at the Royal Academy of Arts, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology opened at Peking University in 1993. Sackler was married three times. His first wife was Else Finnich Jorgensen from Denmark; they married in 1934, had two children, and divorced. The second wife was Marietta Lutze (1919–2019), co-owner of ; married in 1949, they had two children and divorced after 25 years. His last wife until his death was Jillian Lesley Tully who directs philanthropic projects in his name through the Dame Jillian Sackler and Arthur M. Sackler Foundation for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities.