Milton Esterow, a New York Times arts journalist who, in 1972, bought and reinvigorated ARTnews magazine and, at both media outlets, helped bring an investigative edge to culture reporting, especially regarding artwork looted by the Nazis, died on Oct. 3 at his home in Manhattan. He was 97.
His death was confirmed by his daughter Judith Esterow, a former associate publisher of ARTnews.
Mr. Estero joined The New York Times as a 17-year-old copy boy in 1945, became assistant to the director of cultural news before he left the paper in 1968, and returned nearly a half-century later as a freelancer. He may or may not have been the oldest person ever to write for The Times, but he appeared to be the reporter who went the longest — more than 45 years — between bylines, said his editor, Kevin Flynn.
A draft of his final article, about the restitution of art stolen during the Holocaust — written as always on Mr. Esterow’s 1950 Royal typewriter, digitally scanned by his daughter and emailed to Mr. Flynn — was submitted before he died and remains scheduled for publication in the near future.
Mr. Esterow found his niche at The Times by bringing the toughness of his early coverage on the crime beat to culture reporting. On Nov. 16, 1964, his article about treasures stolen by the Nazis appeared on the front page of The Times under the headline “Europe is Still Hunting Its Plundered Art.” It inspired him to dig further into the topic, leading to his book “The Art Stealers” (1966).
“This had never been done at the paper before, doing investigative journalism, getting behind the scenes and interviewing the key players, the artists, the collectors, the dealers, the scholars,” Mr. Esterow said in a 2009 lecture at the University of Southern California.
The post Milton Esterow, Who Reported on Art Stolen in World War II, Dies at 97 appeared first on New York Times.
