Author Susan Tifft dies
Sad news: Susan Tifft, a journalist who co-authored two books about seismic shifts in the American newspaper industry, died of cancer Thursday at her home in Cambridge, Mass. She was 59.
She and husband Alex S. Jones wrote about the families that controlled The New York Times and the Louisville Courier-Journal. Both books -- “The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty,’’ and “The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times’’ -- provide great insight into the trend that saw prominent families cede papers to large corporations. I'd recommend them to anyone who wants to learn about that dramatic change, and I only wish that a revised edition of "The Trust" was available to explore the more recent challenges faced by the Ochs/Sulzberger family.
Tifft, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, also kept a journal about her medical fight, referring to herslf as "Cancer Chick." I never met her, but her spirit shows through in the journal entries. “She cared about that blog,’’ Jones, who directs Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, told the Boston Globe. “That was the distilled essence of Susan: valiant and indomitable, witty and loving life.’’Rest in peace, Susan.
