Walter Edward Mattson
Walter Edward Mattson, former president and chief operating officer of The New York Times whose newspaper career began in New England, died Dec. 30 in Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Hospital of complications from multiple myeloma. Mattson, a longtime resident of Stamford, Conn., who later moved to Longboat Key, Fla., and, in 2013, to Sarasota, was 84.
Mattson’s career in newspapers began at an early age – as a child, he delivered papers for his uncle’s weekly newspaper in Erie, Pa. While in college, he was a Linotype operator at the Portland (Maine) Press Herald and the then-Boston Herald Traveler.
He was a member of the International Typographical Union.
After college, Mattson was advertising manager of two weekly papers in the Pittsburgh area, both owned by his uncle. He later returned to the Herald Traveler as an assistant production manager.
Mattson joined the New York Times as an assistant production manager in 1960. He held several positions during his early years there, including production manager, production director, and operations director.
In 1972, Mattson was named general manager of the Times – the first non-family member to hold the position. He worked closely with publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger in the following decades, eventually taking over as chief operating officer in 1979.
He was president of the company until 1992, when Arthur Sulzberger Jr. succeeded his father as publisher. Mattson was vice chairman on the company’s board of directors until his retirement in 1993.
He was a strong backer of the $1.1-billion purchase of The Boston Globe by the Times.
He continued to serve on the company’s board of directors after his retirement.
Mattson also held several positions at the American Newspaper Publishers Association. He was chairman of its Production Management Committee, and chairman of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau. He was also chairman of the Advertising Council.
He leaves his wife, Geraldine; three children, Stephen, William and Carol; eight grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; a sister.