Newsweek owner Sidney Harman dies

Sidney Harman, the owner of Newsweek magazine and husband of former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), died Tuesday night.

Harman, 92, died in Washington from acute myeloid leukemia, according to an announcement on The Daily Beast’s news site. Harman was diagnosed with leukemia a month ago.

He bought Newsweek from the Washington Post Co. last year for $1 and has since served as its executive chairman. Late last year, Newsweek merged with The Daily Beast and editor Tina Brown took the helm of both publications. Harman became executive chairman of the merged Newsweek Daily Beast Co. 

Harman also served in the Commerce Department during the Carter administration. 

Harman was an active philanthropist and was the chairman of the Academy for Polymathic Study at the University of Southern California.

In a statement, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Harman’s “generosity was unsurpassed” and that “his intellect was giant.”

“Sidney’s legacy will live on in the arts, in higher education, and in good public policy – just a few of the causes he supported,” she said. “His impact will long be felt in journalism. And he will be forever remembered with fondness and admiration by his scores of friends.”

In a column at The Daily Beast, former Newsweek correspondent Jon Alter hailed Harman for saving the magazine from folding.

“He saved Newsweek, hired Tina Brown as editor and told me just last week that the magazine was on track to break even,” Alter wrote. “When he died April 12 after a brief battle with leukemia, it came as a shock. He was 92 and expected to live past 100. We all believed him.”

Earlier this year, Harman’s wife resigned from Congress to become president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

This post was updated at 11:48 a.m.