US News

PUBLISHER TATUM DIES

The publisher emeritus of the New York Amsterdam News has died.

The death of Wilbert Tatum was announced yesterday by the newspaper and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who knew him for more than 30 years.

Tatum, 76, died Wednesday in a hospital in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where he was traveling with his wife, Susan.

Mayor Bloomberg called Tatum “a real character in the nicest sense of the word.”

Bloomberg said Tatum helped build the company into a major employer in Harlem, and added that the paper’s voice is often heard around the world.

Tatum assumed majority control of the paper in 1982.

He bought out the last remaining investor in 1996.

After stepping down as publisher and editor-in-chief in December 1997, he was succeeded by his daughter.