SCHIFF, DOROTHY

SCHIFF, DOROTHY (1903–1989), U.S. newspaper publisher. Born in New York City, she was daughter of jacob schiff . Early interest in civic affairs led her to join the Ellis Island Investigating Commission and the Women's Trade Union League of New York. She became a director of the Henry Street Settlement and of Mount Sinai Hospital, and in 1937 was appointed by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia to the New York City Board of Child Welfare. Her association with the liberal New York Post began in 1939. In 1942 she became president and publisher,   and later editor in chief. She was the first woman newspaper publisher in New York. Under her direction, the paper grew in circulation and revenue. When, in the 1960s, many metropolitan newspapers in the U.S. were forced to suspend publication, the New York Post continued to thrive. Eventually it became the only evening newspaper in New York City. In 1976 she sold the Post to publisher Rupert Murdoch but remained a consultant to the paper until 1981. Schiff was married to publisher George Backer, newspaper editor Theodore O. Thackrey, and Zionist leader rudolph sonneborn . -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Current Biography, 26 (Jan. 1965), 27–29. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Potter, Men, Money and Magic: The Story of Dorothy Schiff (1977). (Lawrence H. Feigenbaum)