Transition: Otis Chandler, 78

Newsweek, March, 2006 by David J. Jefferson

The great-grandson of Los Angeles Times owner Harrison Gray Otis wasn't interested in the family business while a student at Stanford University. A muscle-bound 6-foot-3, this child of privilege preferred surfing and shot-putting. But his parents insisted he learn the business, and Chandler wound up becoming "one of the greatest publishers in modern times in America," says USC journalism professor Bryce Nelson, who worked at the Times under him. Chandler rapidly transformed the paper into one of the most respected in the country. He wasn't afraid to skewer sacred cows, and pumped up the editorial budget by nearly 1,000 percent in his first decade, bringing in top reporting talent from around the country. He sat in on daily meetings of the paper's editorial board and threw in his...