born in Brooklyn on Aug. 22, 1913, to Isaac and Sophie Sackler, took a premedical course at New York University. He also studied art history at N.Y.U. and at the Cooper Union. To finance his medical studies at N.Y.U., he joined the William Douglas MacAdams advertising agency, a medical advertising concern, and eventually became its principal owner. Dr. Sackler is survived by his wife; his two brothers, both of New York; and four children: Dr. Carol Master of Boston; Elizabeth Sackler and Arthur F. Sackler, both of New York, and Denise Marica of Venice, Calif., and seven grandchildren. In 1960, he began publication of Medical Tribune, a biweekly newspaper for doctors, which expanded into an international publishing organization with offices in 11 countries. In 1958, he founded the Laboratories for Therapeutic Research, a nonprofit basic research center at the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy of Long Island University, and served as its director until 1983. With his two brothers, Dr. Sackler also had an interest in the Purdue-Frederick drug company.