Adolph Ochs - WikiHQ

Adolph Simon Ochs (March 12, 1858 – April 8, 1935) was an American newspaper publisher and former owner of The New York Times and The Chattanooga Times, which is now the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Through his only child, Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, and her husband Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Ochs's descendants continue to publish The New York Times through the present day.

Early life and education

Ochs was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 12, 1858, to Julius Ochs and Bertha Levy, both German Jewish immigrants. His father had left Bavaria for the United States in 1846. Julius was a highly educated man, fluent in six languages, and he taught at schools throughout the South. He supported the Union during the Civil War. Ochs' mother Bertha came to the United States in 1848, fleeing the German Revolutions in Rhenish Bavaria, and lived in the South prior to her 1853 marriage to Julius. She sympathized with the Confederacy during the American Civil War, but the conflicting sympathies between husband and wife did not separate their household.

Following the end of the Civil War, the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in the eastern, Union-affiliated part of the state.

In 1872, Ochs returned to the Chronicle as a printer's devil, who looked after various details in the composing room of the newspaper.

Chattanooga Times

In 1877, at age 19, Ochs borrowed $250 from his family () to purchase a controlling interest in the Chattanooga Times, becoming its publisher.

The following year, he founded a commercial paper that he called The Tradesman. He was one of the founders of the Southern Associated Press and served as president.

The New York Times

thumb|Ochs on the September 1, 1924, cover of [[Time (magazine)|Time magazine]]

In 1896, at the age of 38, he was advised by The New York Times reporter Henry Alloway that the paper could be bought at a greatly reduced price due to its financial losses and wide range of competitors in New York City.

After borrowing money to purchase the Times for $75,000, Ochs formed The New York Times Company, placed the paper on a strong financial foundation, and became the majority stockholder.

Beginning with 1896, there was issued weekly a supplement, eventually called The New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Other auxiliary publications were incrementally added, including The Annalist, a financial review appearing on Mondays, The Times Mid-Week Pictorial on Thursdays, Current History Magazine, a monthly, started during World War I, The New York Times Index, started in 1913, published quarterly, and comparable only to the Index, published by The Times in London.

In 1916, Ochs communicated one of his most famous quotes, saying, "I affirm that more than 50% of money spent on advertising is squandered and is a sheer waste of printers' ink." The quote might be the origin of the common marketing saying, "I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half", a quote that has been attributed to John Wanamaker.

Ochs was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1931.

Personal life

thumb|Ochs and his daughter, Iphigene,

In 1884, Ochs married Effie Wise, a daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati, who was the leading exponent of Reform Judaism in the United States, and the founder of Hebrew Union College.

In 1928, Ochs built the Mizpah Congregation Temple in Chattanooga, Tennessee in memory of his parents, Julius and Bertha Ochs. The Georgian colonial building was designated as a Tennessee Historical Preservation Site in 1979.

Ochs fought antisemitism during his career. He was active in the early years of the Anti-Defamation League, where he served as an executive board member, and used 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 media.

Ochs was an opponent of a Jewish state in Palestine.

Ochs was the uncle of World War II Major general Julius Ochs Adler.

Death

Ochs died on April 8, 1935, during a visit to Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is buried at the Temple Israel Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, New York.

Legacy

thumb|A 1976 [[United States Postal Service stamp commemorating Ochs]]

Ochs' daughter, Iphigene Bertha Ochs, married Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who became publisher of The New York Times following his death. Her son-in-law, Orvil Dryfoos, was publisher of The New York Times from 1961 to 1963, and he was succeeded by her son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. Her daughter, Ruth Holmberg, became publisher of The Chattanooga Times. Ruth Holmberg's son, Arthur Golden, authored Memoirs of a Geisha. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. served as publisher of The New York Times from 1992 until 2017, when he was succeeded by his own son, A. G. Sulzberger.

One of Ochs's nephews, Julius Ochs Adler, worked at The New York Times for more than 40 years, becoming general manager in 1935, after Ochs died. Another nephew, John Bertram Oakes, the son of his brother George Washington Ochs Oakes, in 1961 became editor of its editorial page, a position he held until 1976. Ochs was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1982. Another nephew, Adolph Shelby Ochs, was treasurer and a director of The Chattanooga Times. He was married to Mrs. Theodosia Fitzgerald Gray of Danville, Virginia, granddaughter of Dan River Inc. founder T.B. Fitzgerald, niece of Wachovia Bank founder James Alexander Gray and cousin of Bowman Gray Sr., former president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds.

Notes

References

Citations

External links

"Adolph Ochs", Immigrant Entrepreneurship, 2012
Obituary, NY Times, April 9, 1935, "Adolph S. Ochs Dead at 77; Publisher of Times Since 1896"
Jewish Virtual Library - Adolph Ochs
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture article
Article in FAIR by John L. Hess assessing career
Adolph S. Ochs papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library.