He was the son of Mitzi (née Epstein) and Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., the founder of Advance Publications.[2] Sam Newhouse Sr. had been the young editor of the Bayonne 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, The Staten Island Advance and Advance Publications, respectively. Newhouse attended the Horace Mann School in New York City.[3] He later attended Syracuse University, but dropped out and began working at his father's newspapers.[3] The world renowned S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, one of the most selective programs in the world, is named for him, and routinely graduates prize-winning journalists, screenwriters, broadcasters and media personalities.
After dropping out of Syracuse University, Newhouse worked for the International News Service in Paris.[4] He served two years in the U.S. Air Force before going to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to oversee two of his father's daily newspapers.[4] In 1964, he became publisher of the U.S. edition of Vogue[4] and in 1975, he took over as chairman of Condé Nast.[5] In 1985, he purchased the New Yorker.[5]
Prior to his death, he had an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion, and he was ranked the 46th richest American by Forbes magazine in 2014.[6]
Newhouse gave money to charity, including $15 million to Syracuse University in 1962.[7] He was also an art collector,[8] who at one time owned one of the most valuable paintings in the world, a Jackson Pollock drip painting, titled No. 5, 1948.[9] Newhouse was listed by Art News as among the top 200 art collectors in the world.[10]
Newhouse was Jewish.[11] He was married to Jane Franke in 1951 and they had three children together: Samuel I. Newhouse III, Wynn Newhouse (1954-2010), and Pamela Newhouse Mensch.[5] The Wynn Newhouse Awards, an annual award program that provides grants to artists with disabilities, was established in 2006.[12]
In 1959 a divorce between Franke and Si Newhouse was finalized, to much disapproval from his parents. [13] In 1973, Si Newhouse married Victoria Carrington Benedict de Ramel.[5]
Newhouse's grandson, Samuel I. Newhouse IV, appeared in the documentary Born Rich.[14]
Samuel 'Si' Newhouse died on October 1, 2017, at the age of 89.[15][5]
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