Everything about Adolph Ochs totally explained
Adolph Simon Ochs (b.
March 12,
1858–
April 8,
1935) was an American newspaper publisher and former owner of
The New York Times and
The Chattanooga Times (now the
Chattanooga Times Free Press).
Ochs was born to
German-Jewish immigrants, Julius and Bertha Levy Ochs, in
Cincinnati,
Ohio. The family moved south to
Knoxville, Tennessee due to his mother's sympathies during the
Civil War. Julius sided with the Union during the war, but it didn't separate the household. Ochs began his newspaper career there at age 11, leaving grammar school to become a printer's assistant at the
Knoxville Chronicle. At the age of 19, he borrowed $250 to purchase a controlling interest in
The Chattanooga Times, becoming its publisher. In 1896, at the age of 36, he again borrowed money to purchase
The New York Times, a money-losing newspaper that had a wide range of competitors in
New York City. In 1904, he hired
Carr Van Anda as his managing editor. Their focus on objective news reporting, in a time when newspapers were openly and highly partisan, and a well-timed price decrease (from 3 cents per issue to 1 cent) led to its rescue from near oblivion. The paper's readership increased from 9,000 at the time of his purchase to 780,000 by the 1920s.
In 1884, Ochs married Effie Wise, the daughter of
Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, who was the leading exponent of
Reform Judaism in America and the founder of
Hebrew Union College. His only daughter,
Iphigene Bertha Ochs, married
Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who became publisher of the
Times after Adolph died. Her son-in-law
Orvil Dryfoos was publisher from 1961–63, followed by her son
Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger. Her daughter,
Ruth Holmberg, became publisher of
The Chattanooga Times. Ochs' great-grandson
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. has been publisher of
The New York Times since 1992.
In 1904, Ochs moved the
Times to a newly-built building on Longacre Square in
Manhattan, which the City of New York then renamed as
Times Square. On
New Year's Eve 1904, Ochs had pyrotechnists illuminate his new building at
One Times Square with a fireworks show from street level.
One of his nephews,
Julius Ochs Adler, worked at the
Times for more than 40 years, becoming general manager in 1935, after Ochs died. Another, John Bertram Oakes, the son of his brother George Washington Ochs Oakes, became editorial page editor of the Times' editorial page in 1961, which he edited until 1976.
Ochs was active in the early years of the
Anti-Defamation League, serving as an executive board member, and using his influence as publisher of the New York Times to convince other newspapers nationwide to cease the unjustified caricaturing and lampooning of Jews in the American press.
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