Sidney Harman, a multi-millionaire audio pioneer and manufacturer who bought Newsweek last year, died in Washington, D.C., April 12 of complications from acute myeloid leukemia. In August 2010, two days before he turned 92, Hartman purchased debt burdened Newsweek from the Washington Post Company for $1 and taking over some $47 million in the magazine’s liabilities. He had virtually no media experience. Harman and Barry Diller, owner of The Daily Beast, merged Newsweek and The Beast and hired Tina Brown of The Beast as editor of the magazine. Immediality after Harman’s death, Dilller said, “Three weeks ago, when he told me of his illness, he said he and his family wanted to continue as partners in Newsweek/Beast in all events. We will carry on.”
Harman built the first high-fidelity stereo receiver and made a fortune estimated at $500 million in manufacturing audio equipment. He was a classical music fan and jazz aficionado; recited Shakespeare by heart; was a civil rights and anti-war activist; created programs to humanize the workplace; was president of a Quaker college on Long Island; served as President Carter’s deputy secretary of commerce; published a memoir at 85; was still active in business in his 90s; and gave millions to education, the performing arts and other philanthropies.