Tennessee paper’s publisher for 28 years

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg, longtime publisher of

The Chattanooga Times and a member of the family that controls The New York Times, died Wednesday at her home in that Tennessee city. She was 96.

Holmberg was the granddaughter of Adolph S. Ochs, the patriarch of The Chattanooga Times

who gained prominence as publisher of The New York Times

early in the 20th century. Her death was confirmed by her family.

Holmberg was born Ruth Rachel Sulzberger in New York City and she worked as a reporter at The New York Times while in high school. She later graduated from Smith College and arrived in Chattanooga in 1946 after serving as a Red Cross nurse in Europe for a time in World War II. Early on, Holmberg served as art and theater critic for The Chattanooga Times.

In her early years as publisher of The Chattanooga

Times, she led it through turbulent times as her paper staked out positions in support of the civil- rights movement. Under her watch, the paper also gained a reputation for feisty reporting that didn’t shy from tackling corruption, environmental contamination and other misdeeds.

Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., chairman of The New York Times Co. and publisher, called his aunt a “towering and courageous figure in journalism.” “As publisher of The Chattanooga Times in Tennessee for nearly thirty years, she championed independent journalism that challenged racial segregation, uncovered political corruption and industrial pollution,” his statement said.

He added that she inspired countless women and men to enter journalism.

As a civic leader in Chattanooga for many years, she also was credited with making lasting contributions to its development.

“On behalf of her children, we are extremely proud of the leadership role that our mother played in Chattanooga in education, civil rights, beautification and the arts,” her son Michael Golden, vice chairman of The New York Times Co., told the Times Free Press.

The Times Free Press said Holmberg served as publisher of The Chattanooga Times from 1964 until 1992. It also said she was chairman of the Times Printing Co. from 1992 until 1999. She and her siblings transferred ownership to their 13 children in 1997. Over the next two years, Walter E. Hussman Jr., chairman of WEHCO Media Co., bought

The News- Free Press and The Times and merged them to become The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Hussman told the Times

Free Press that he admired Holmberg’s commitment to her hometown.

“I always had a lot of respect for her because a lot of the rest of the family moved on to New York and she remained in Chattanooga and tried to practice great journalism in the family home,” he said.