You are currently viewing J. Richard Munro, Who Oversaw the Creation of Time Warner, Dies at 93

As president and C.E.O., he expanded Time Inc.’s offerings, fended off a hostile takeover and built the world’s largest media company.

J. Richard Munro, who as chairman and chief executive of Time Inc. navigated the company from its home in magazine publishing through the stormy media seas of the 1980s and, ultimately, to its momentous purchase of Warner Communications in 1989, creating the world’s largest media corporation, died on Aug. 11 in Naples, Fla. He was 93.

His son Mac said the cause of his death, in a hospice, was melanoma.

When Henry R. Luce, the powerful founder of Time Inc., died in 1967, his will stipulated that his company should remain “principally a journalistic enterprise,” with a stable of high-profile magazines — including Time, Life, Fortune and Sports Illustrated — and a book-publishing arm.

Things had changed significantly by the time Mr. Munro took over as president and chief executive in 1980. Time

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