Arthur Gelb Image by getty images

Arthur Gelb, the New York Times managing editor whose arts sensibility and journalistic vigor molded the paper for decades, died Tuesday at age 90 of complications from a stroke, his son said.

The veteran newsman reportedly died in New York. Son Peter Gelb told the Times his father died of complications of a stroke.

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Arthur Gelb joined the Times as a copy boy in 1944 and rose to become its managing editor before retiring in 1989.

He was an influential arts writer, but earned most fame as a metropolitan editor who oversaw a famous expose of police corruption.

He was also a newsroom leader who helped create the now-familiar Sports Monday, Science Times and other daily sections that were revolutionary innovations of their day.

“Arthur Gelb was a powerful part of the Times for decades,” publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement. “He brought great energy and insight to our journalism.”

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