Sulzberger was born to a Jewish family on February 5, 1926, in New York City, the son of Arthur Hays Sulzberger and Iphigene Bertha Ochs (daughter of Adolph Ochs, the former publisher and owner of The New York Times and the Chattanooga Times[1] and granddaughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise).

Sulzberger graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School and then enlisted into the United States Marine Corps during World War II, serving from 1944 to 1946, in the Pacific Theater.

In addition to his work at The New York Times, he also served as trustee from 1968 as well as chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1987 to 1998.

In 1948, he married Barbara Winslow Grant[11](of mostly Scottish and English heritage)[12] in a civil ceremony at her parents' home in Purchase, New York.

[6][16] He also adopted Fox's daughter from a previous marriage, Cathy Sulzberger (who married Joseph George Perpich).

[19][20] In 2005, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) honored Sulzberger with the Katharine Graham Lifetime Achievement Award.