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Herb Sandler, Banker Who Financed ProPublica, Dies at 87
Herb Sandler, a banker and philanthropist who with his wife, Marion, provided the initial financing for ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative-reporting organization that seeks to be an alternative model for sustaining vigorous journalism, died on Wednesday at his home in San Francisco. He was 87.
His family announced the death. The cause was not given.
Mr. Sandler and his wife, who died in 2012, made their fortune by building a small bank in Oakland, Calif., into Golden West Financial, a multibillion-dollar lender. They had long supported progressive causes when, in 2007, their Sandler Foundation provided almost all of ProPublica’s initial funding.
ProPublica, which often collaborates with traditional news organizations, including The New York Times, has since won five Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other awards.
Mr. Sandler was its board chairman from its beginning until 2016. In the last several decades, with print advertising evaporating, many newspapers have closed or cut staff, a worrisome development to Mr. Sandler.
“We all know the potential for corruption in city, state and federal government, as well as in major corporations,” he told the Bridgespan Group, which advises nonprofit organizations, in a 2013 interview. “And somebody’s got to be watching. That’s the muckraker tradition.”
ProPublica, which is based in New York and now employs about 75 journalists, is being widely watched in the news business as a possible model for journalism in the future. In a tribute to Mr. Sandler posted on its website, ProPublica said that he had a simple explanation for why he supported such work: “I hate it when the bad guys win.”
More at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/obituaries/herb-sandler-dead.html
His family announced the death. The cause was not given.
Mr. Sandler and his wife, who died in 2012, made their fortune by building a small bank in Oakland, Calif., into Golden West Financial, a multibillion-dollar lender. They had long supported progressive causes when, in 2007, their Sandler Foundation provided almost all of ProPublica’s initial funding.
ProPublica, which often collaborates with traditional news organizations, including The New York Times, has since won five Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other awards.
Mr. Sandler was its board chairman from its beginning until 2016. In the last several decades, with print advertising evaporating, many newspapers have closed or cut staff, a worrisome development to Mr. Sandler.
“We all know the potential for corruption in city, state and federal government, as well as in major corporations,” he told the Bridgespan Group, which advises nonprofit organizations, in a 2013 interview. “And somebody’s got to be watching. That’s the muckraker tradition.”
ProPublica, which is based in New York and now employs about 75 journalists, is being widely watched in the news business as a possible model for journalism in the future. In a tribute to Mr. Sandler posted on its website, ProPublica said that he had a simple explanation for why he supported such work: “I hate it when the bad guys win.”
More at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/obituaries/herb-sandler-dead.html