Martin Singerman, the son of a Bronx clothing salesman whose storied career led him to become publisher of The New York Post, has died at the age of 96, his family said Wednesday.
A trusted lieutenant to Rupert Murdoch for more than four decades, Singerman began working for his longtime boss in 1974, when Murdoch plucked him from TV Guide and named him circulation director of Star Magazine.
Credited with the weekly supermarket magazine’s successful expansion, Singerman in 1980 was named president of Murdoch Magazines, whose properties included TV Guide, Seventeen, Mirabella, Soap Opera Digest and New York magazine.
As Murdoch turned his focus to television and 20th Century Fox, he entrusted Singerman with running his print operations, naming him CEO of News America, which included The Post, the Boston Herald, New York magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Antonio Express-News.
“Marty Singerman was a great leader for our company, especially during our first years in America,” Murdoch said on Wednesday. “He ran several of our businesses, among them The Post, where he ably served as Publisher for five years.”
Murdoch added: “Marty could be tough, but he was the most popular executive we ever had.”
Longtime News Corp executive Les Hinton added that Singerman “was a brilliant people manager who had the secret of driving people hard — really hard — while never undermining their self esteem.
“He was the calm heart of many storms as the company exploded in size and power,” Hinton said.
In 1987, Singerman was elevated to the board of News Corp before enjoying two stints as publisher of The Post.
A native of the Mosholu section of the Bronx, Singerman graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and New York University. In 1965, he met his wife Geri on Fire Island, beginning a whirlwind romance. Less than a year later, they were married.
“Marty Singerman was a boy from The Bronx who made good,” Matt Singerman, the couple’s only son, told The Post on Wednesday. “He played stickball growing up on the Grand Concourse and served his country during World War II.”
“He did it through hard work, smarts, tenacity and surrounding himself with good people,” he said.
Murdoch was so grateful to Singerman that upon his retirement in 1999 he gifted him a racehorse, “Tycoon Todd,” which competed at the Belmont and Aqueduct racetracks.
“He taught me to work hard, keep a positive attitude, and if you deal with people the way you want to be dealt with that will lead to great things in life,” Matt Singerman added.
Singerman is survived by his Geri, Matt, their daughter-in-law Rachel, and their two grandchildren — Max, 18, and Milo, 9.
A memorial service will be held at Riverside Memorial Chapel at 180 W. 76th St. in Manhattan on Monday at 11 a.m.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
