Philanthropist and entrepreneur Sidney Harman, 92, died Tuesday night of complications from leukemia, according to a statement from his family on the website of the Daily Beast.
As a businessman, Harman was chairman emeritus of Harman International Industries, Inc., an audio and infotainment equipment company which he founded in 1953. Married to Jane Harman, a former Democratic member of Congress from California, Sidney Harman served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce under the Carter administration in 1977 and 1978.
He was active over the years as a trustee for several educational institutions, chairing several committees on education and public policy.
Harman bought Newsweek from the Washington Post Company, merging it with the Daily Beast in August 2010.
