Sulzberger, Judith Peixotto, 1923-2011

Judith Peixotto Sulzberger (December 27, 1923 – February 21, 2011[2]) was an American physician and philanthropist. Her family has been associated with The New York Times since her grandfather Adolph Ochs purchased the paper in 1896.

Early life and childhood
Sulzberger was one of four children of Iphigene Sulzberger (née Ochs) (1892–1990) and Arthur Hays Sulzberger (1891–1968), the publisher of The New York Times from 1935-61.[3]

Her brother, Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger served as publisher of The New York Times and chairman and CEO of the Times Company; her sister Marian Sulzberger Heiskell was a philanthropist; and her other sister, Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg was a publisher.[4][5]

Education
She graduated from Smith College in 1946, and from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1949. She spent two years interning in pathology at Grasslands Hospital of Valhalla, New York but never completed her residency. [5]

Career
She was a director of The New York Times from 1974 to 2000, and authored a book, Younger (2003).[6]

In the early 1990s, she provided financing for what became the J.P. Sulzberger Genome Center at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons, her alma mater.[7]

Personal life
She was married four times. She had two sons from her first marriage to Matthew Rosenschein Jr. : Daniel Hays Cohen (né Rosenschein) (1952-2016) and James Matthew "Jace" Cohen (né Rosenschein). Her sons were later adopted by her second husband Richard N. Cohen and they took his last name.[8] Judith and her third husband Budd Levinson divorced in 1984, but later remarried.[9]

Dr. Judith P. Sulzberger, a physician whose philanthropy led to the creation of a center for genome studies in her name at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member of the family that controls The New York Times, died on Monday at her home in Manhattan. She was 87.

Her death was confirmed by her son Daniel Cohen. Dr. Sulzberger also had a home in East Hampton, N.Y.

Family ties inextricably linked Dr. Sulzberger to the newspaper that her grandfather, Adolph S. Ochs, bought in 1896. Indeed, for 26 years Dr. Sulzberger served on the board of directors In the early 1990s, she provided financing for what became the Judith P. Sulzberger Genome Center at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, her alma mater. The center fosters the advanced study of genetics to identify the risks of disease, improve human health and extend life. For many years, Dr. Sulzberger was a staff member at the college and was in charge of special projects for the genome center and chairwoman of its advisory board. Judith Peixotto Sulzberger was born in New York City on Dec. 27, 1923, the third child and youngest daughter of Arthur Hays and Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger. When Judith’s brother, Arthur, was born, their father, who enjoyed writing light verse, prepared an illustrated book describing the boy as having “come to play the Punch to Judy’s endless show.” Punch became his lifelong nickname. She interrupted her medical career in the 1950s to raise a family. In 1946 she had married Matthew Rosenschein Jr., a fellow medical student in his final year at Columbia, who became a general medical practitioner. The couple had two children, Daniel and James, and they were divorced in 1956.

In 1958, Dr. Sulzberger married Richard N. Cohen, a Yale-educated insurance broker. He formally adopted her sons, who took his surname. The couple had no children and were divorced in 1972. Late in 1972, she married Budd Levinson, a divorced businessman. They were divorced in 1984 but later remarried.