Sulzberger was one of the "gray lady's" best known executives. His tenure in charge of America's best-known newspaper spanned a period of vast and dynamic changes in the media industry.
His son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr, is the current publisher of the paper, overseeing the traumatic adjustment to a digital world that began at the end of his father's period of control. In a statement reported by the New York Times the Sulzberger family said that Sulzberger, who was known to many by his nickname of "Punch", had died at home in Southampton, New York, after struggling with a long illness.
The Sulzberger family has run the New York Times since 1896: when Sulzberger took charge in 1963 the media world it dominated was one of hot metal, ink and newspapers delivered by hand.
The Times was also a somewhat insular institution which was financially vulnerable. Sulzberger embarked on a rapid expansion, snapping up radio and television stations and expanding the newspaper from its New York homeland to become far more national in scope. He had turned the company into a multi-billion dollar enterprise by the time he turned it over to his son, in 1997.
In an era of declining newspaper readership, weekday circulation had climbed from 714,000 when Sulzberger became publisher to 1.1 million in 1992. Over the same period, the annual revenues of the Times' corporate parent rose from $100m to $1.7bn.
The commercial expansion of the newspaper was not the only dramatic change that was overseen by Sulzberger. Journalistically, perhaps his greatest triumph was the decision to publish the "Pentagon papers", a trove of military documents that revealed shocking truths about the Vietnam War. He also oversaw the growth of lifestyle and sports sections aimed at consumers. The development was dismissed as unserious by some critics, but it is now an entrenched part of journalism culture.
Sulzberger's time in charge saw the Times win the Pulitzer Prize, the highest accolade in American journalism, 31 times.
Sulzberger was born in New York City on 5 February 1926, the only son of Arthur Hays Sulzberger and Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger. One of his three sisters was named Judy, and from early on he was known as "Punch".
Sulzberger was the only grandson of Adolph S Ochs, a son of Bavarian immigrants who took over the Times at the end of the 19th century. Sulzberger served with the Marine Corps in World War II and Korea before joining the newspaper as a reporter.
In a statement, his son paid tribute to his legacy and achievements, especially in fighting for the truth.
"Punch, the old Marine captain who never backed down from a fight, was an absolutely fierce defender of the freedom of the press," Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr said
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