{"id":187492,"date":"2026-04-06T19:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187492\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T19:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:36:10","slug":"fred-drasner-former-co-publisher-of-the-daily-news-dies-at-age-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187492\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Drasner, former co-publisher of the Daily News, dies at age 84"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"man\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Fred Drasner in 2012.<\/p>\n

Photo by: Bryan Smith\/ZumaPress.com<\/p>\n

Fred Drasner, a powerful figure in NYC\u2019s media world who served as co-publisher of the Daily News, died on Saturday at age 83, amNewYork has learned.\n<\/p>\n

Drasner\u2019s career was highlighted by a series of high-profile acquisitions across news publishing, tech, and sports. His most defining role began in 1993 when he led the acquisition of the Daily News, where he remained the tabloid paper\u2019s co-owner, CEO and co-publisher until 2004.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A public obituary on Dignity Memorial<\/a> indicated that he died on April 4 and had lived most recently in Wellington, FL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raised in Brooklyn, Drasner is perhaps familiar to New Yorkers of a certain age who remember the famous TV commercial<\/a> showing him talking\u2014emitting a classic New York accent\u2014 and walking the streets of the city, browsing fruit stands, playing stickball, all while sharply criticizing a certain \u201cLong Island paper<\/a>\u201d for its perceived lack of knowledge about the five boroughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Daily News. It\u2019s the most New York you can get,\u201d Drasner says with pride at the end of the message.\n<\/p>\n

At the Daily News, Drasner navigated the print publication through the infamous dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Previously, he had acquired U.S. News & World Report<\/a> in 1985, staying on as CEO and co-chairman until 2004.<\/p>\n

In 2004, upon Drasner\u2019s departure from the Daily News to an advisory role, his longtime associate and fellow media mogul, Mort Zuckerman (who currently owns U.S. News & World Report and formerly owned the Daily News), praised his dedication and zest for publishing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have met no one who can match his enthusiasm, skill and knowledge in the magazine and newspaper world,\u201d Zuckerman said in a New York Times article. \u201cI am grateful Fred has agreed to continue to provide his wise counsel to the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin Dunn, former editor-in-chief at the major daily, described Drasner as a memorable person: a hard businessman with an underlying sympathetic nature.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a great character,\u201d Dunn shared. \u201cHe was a tough businessman. He loved to portray a very gruff exterior. He could be very tough, but underneath it all, he had a sympathetic character.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It suited Drasner to be \u201cthe voice\u201d of the iconic newspaper, Dunn said, adding that he enjoyed being part of its leadership team.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of the last executives who really understood printing, distribution, and editorial,\u201d Dunn said. \u201cHe was a guy who loved the rough-and-tumble of keeping the printers on board. He loved doing deals. He loved doing deals with advertisers, paper manufacturers, and transportation companies. Fred was the ultimate deal maker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tech and sports<\/p>\n

In 1985, Drasner started Applied Graphics Technologies, took it public in 1996 (NASDAQ), and served as its chairman and CEO from 1985 until its sale in 2003. He was also a co-owner of the NFL\u2019s Washington<\/a> Commanders (then known as the Redskins), from 1999 to 2004.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drasner\u2019s career legacy is one of a talented, versatile deal-maker and venture capitalist who shaped major institutions from the pages of an iconic publication to chairing the boards of software companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To New Yorkers, he is perhaps best remembered for leading the paper, making sure it was stocked in newsstands and delivered on time to doorsteps, and ensuring its dedicated team of reporters continued to deliver the daily news.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe appreciated what the Daily News meant to New York,\u201d Dunn said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Drasner is survived by his wife, Lora Drasner; his brother, Ken (Ann) Drasner; and his daughters, Johanna (Paul) Haban and Amanda Drasner. He is also survived by his dog, Windsor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fred Drasner in 2012. Photo by: Bryan Smith\/ZumaPress.com Fred Drasner, a powerful figure in NYC\u2019s media world who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[75170,9,14051,75171,56,63,65,45664,64],"class_list":["post-187492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-fred-drasner","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-daily-news","tag-newspapers-in-nyc","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-media","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}