Samuel Irving "S.I." Newhouse Jr. (November 8, 1927 – October 1, 2017) was an American heir to a substantial magazine and media business. Together with his brother Donald, he owned

Advance Publications Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, an ...

, founded by their late father in 1922, whose properties include

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The company's media ...

(publisher of such magazines as ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', '' Vanity Fair'', and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''), dozens of newspapers across the United States (including ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'', ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'', and ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

''), former cable company Bright House Networks, and a controlling stake in

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chann ...

Early life

He was the son of Mitzi (née Epstein) and

Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. (born Solomon Isadore Neuhaus; May 24, 1895 – August 29, 1979) was an American broadcasting businessman, as well as a magazine and newspaper publisher. He was the founder of Advance Publications. Early life Newhouse ...

, the founder of Advance Publications. Sam Newhouse Sr. had been the young editor of the ''

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

Times'' and when he asked the owner of the Times for a raise he had long deserved, he was refused. Sam then quit the Times to become associated with the Staten Island paper that formed the basis of his publication future. Newhouse attended the Horace Mann School in New York City. He later attended Syracuse University, but dropped out and began working at his father's newspapers.

Career

After dropping out of Syracuse University, Newhouse worked for the International News Service in Paris. He served two years in the U.S. Air Force before going to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to oversee two of his father's daily newspapers. In 1964, he became publisher of the U.S. edition of Vogue and in 1975, he took over as chairman of Condé Nast. In 1985, he purchased the New Yorker. Prior to his death, he had an estimated

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

of $9.5 billion, and he was ranked the 46th richest American by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine in 2014.Samuel Newhouse Jr. – Forbes
September 2015 Newhouse gave money to charity, including $15 million to

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in 1962. He was also an art collector, who at one time owned one of the most valuable paintings in the world, a

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

drip painting, titled ''

No. 5, 1948 ''No. 5, 1948'' is a painting by Jackson Pollock, an American painter known for his contributions to the abstract expressionist movement. It was sold on 22 May 2006 for $140 million, a new mark for highest ever price for a painting, not surpass ...

''. Newhouse was listed by '' Art News'' as among the top 200 art collectors in the world.

Personal life and death

Newhouse was Jewish. He was married to Jane Franke from 1951 to 1959, and they had three children, Samuel I. Newhouse III, Wynn Newhouse (died 2010), and Pamela Newhouse Mensch. His parents were deeply disappointed by the divorce. In 1973, he married

Victoria Carrington Benedict de Ramel Victoria Newhouse (''née'' Victoria Carrington Benedict) is an American architectural historian. She founded the Architectural History Foundation, a nonprofit scholarly book publisher, and is a frequent author on architecture-related subjects. ...

. His grandson, S.I. Newhouse IV, appeared in the documentary '' Born Rich''. Newhouse died on October 1, 2017, at the age of 89.

Early life

Career

Personal life and death

References

Further reading