Dr. Judith P. Sulzberger, a physician whose philanthropy led to the creation of a center for genome studies in her name at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member of the family that controls The New York Times, died on Monday at her home in Manhattan. She was 87.
Her death was confirmed by her son Daniel Cohen. Dr. Sulzberger also had a home in East Hampton, N.Y.
Family ties inextricably linked Dr. Sulzberger to the newspaper that her grandfather, Adolph S. Ochs, bought in 1896. Its affairs dominated dinner conversations when she was growing up. Her father, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, was publisher from 1935 to 1961; her brother, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, was publisher for nearly 30 years; and her nephew, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., has been publisher since 1992.
Indeed, for 26 years Dr. Sulzberger served on the board of directors, as did her two sisters, Marian Sulzberger Heiskell, a civic leader who was a director for 34 years, and Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg, who published the family-owned Chattanooga Times and was a director of the New York company for 37 years.
But from an early age, Judith Sulzberger resolved to make her career outside the family newspaper enterprises. She became a doctor and for many years conducted clinical and private practices. She later focused on public-health research, investigating AIDS, infectious diseases, microbiology and genetics.
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