Ochs, Adolph S.

Ochs, Adolph S. ŏks [key], 1858–1935, American newspaper publisher, b. Cincinnati. Starting as a newsboy in Knoxville, Tenn., he became a printer's apprentice, compositor, and, in 1878, publisher of the ChattanoogaTimes.In 1896 he acquired the then failing New YorkTimesand made it one of the greatest newspapers in the world. He also controlled the PhiladelphiaTimesand the PhiladelphiaPublic Ledger,which he merged and in 1913 sold to Cyrus H. K. Curtis. Unlike the sensational journalists of his day, Ochs stressed nonpartisan, almost clinical news reporting. From 1900 until his death he was a member of the executive committee and a director of the Associated Press.

See G. W. Johnson,An Honorable Titan(1946, repr. 1970); S. Tift and A. Jones,The Trust(1999).

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