Donald Edward Newhouse, the Jewish billionaire media mogul who owned Advance Publications and helped shape one of America’s most powerful private media empires, died May 26, 2026, at his estate in Lambertville, New Jersey. He was 96.
Born in New York City on August 5, 1929, Newhouse inherited a media business founded by his father, Samuel I. Newhouse Sr., in 1922 and expanded it into a vast portfolio spanning magazines, newspapers, cable and entertainment.
Advance’s holdings include Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker; newspapers including The Star-Ledger, The Plain Dealer and The Oregonian; a stake in Charter Communications; and a stake in Warner Bros. Discovery.
Forbes estimated Newhouse’s net worth at $11 billion in 2024. Alongside his brother, Samuel I. “Si” Newhouse Jr., he helped preserve Advance as a major family-controlled media company while guiding it through print, cable and digital transitions.
Newhouse was also a major philanthropist, donating $75 million to Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and $20 million to frontotemporal dementia research after the disease affected his wife, Susan, and his brother.
He is survived by three children.