Media Titan Si Newhouse Dead At 89

NEW YORK (AP) — Media titan Samuel Irving "Si" Newhouse Jr. has died at 89. Newhouse — who together with his brother Donald owned Advance Publications, Conde Nast and dozens of newspapers across the United States — built one of the largest privately held fortunes in the country. Si Newhouse, in charge of the magazine division, remade The New Yorker and Details magazines, revived Vanity Fair and bought and sold the Random House book empire.

The family paid tribute to Newhouse on Sunday, describing him as "the first person to come to the office, arriving well before dawn" and a person who brought "visionary creative spirit coupled with no-nonsense business."

Bob Sauerberg, President and CEO of Condé Nast said that "today, we lost a giant."

Photo, AP: S.I. Newhouse, 3rd from left, purchased the New Yorker, March 13, 1985. He is shown at an anniversary party for the Newhouse communications Center in September 1984 in Syracuse, N.Y. Left to right are Donald, Melvin Eggers, Chancellor of Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse, and Harry an local businessman.