• Advertising Age, Wednesday, October 14, 2009 9:35 PM

Bruce Wasserstein, the Lazard chairman whose properties included New York magazine, died yesterday from heart problems at 61. New York magazine is part of New York Media, which belongs to a family trust. (Wasserstein has a wife and five children from two former marriages.)

Wasserstein's ownership has been credited with giving New York the resources to grow in tough times. It is a magazine that needs an owner with deep pockets, one "who had a serious commitment to making it prestigious and smart as possible," says former New York editor Caroline Miller.

Under Wasserstein, New York won several National Magazine Awards and NYMag.com became an example of what magazines ought to do online. "This is a really terrible time for the magazine to lose him," says Miller. "There hasn't been a tremendous slaughter at the magazine, partly because you had an owner who's rich and patient and smart and strategic."

Read the whole story at Advertising Age »