Andy Riggs, Who Modernized 'NYT' Printing, Dead At 73

By: E&P staff J.A. "Andy" Riggs Jr., who brought New York Times printing production into the modern era, has died at 73, the newspaper announced Saturday.

Riggs died of a heart attack Dec. 11 in Evanston, Ill., the Times reported in an obituary by Dennis Hevesi.

Riggs had been living in Tucson, Ariz., since his retirement from the newspaper in 1989.

As an operations executive at the Times since 1977, Riggs led the newspaper's conversion from letterpress to offset printing, and helped plan its production plant in Edison, N.J.

Riggs, who was born in 1933 in Hinsdale, Ill., was the son of a president of the Goss Printing Press Company. His first job was as a salesman for Goss, where he was ultimately promoted to general manager of commercial presses.

He joined the Times in 1976 as assistant to the general manager.

He is survived by his fourth wife, Laura Schiavone Riggs of Niantic, Conn., a son, David, of Evanston; and a daughter Karen Arenson, of Glencoe, Ill. His previous marriages ended in divorce, the Times reported.