Uncertainty around Philadelphia Inquirer’s fate after Katz death

Until the checks change hands, there has to be plenty of uncertainty around the fate of the Philadelphia Inquirer following the sudden death of Lewis Katz only days after he and Gerry Lenfest had agreed to spend $88 million to buy the company from its other owners.

Lenfest and Katz had been feuding with the other partners in the company, known as Interstate General Media, and they beat out their rivals in a court-ordered auction, agreeing to pay $88 million.

But the check never changed hands and Katz was killed in a small-plane crash near Boston on Saturday.

Officially, Katz’s son, Drew Katz, is to take his seat on the soon-to-be-dissolved Interstate General Media.

If past deals with wealthy patrons and family ownership are any indication, there is plenty to be nervous about.

The latest high-profile example was Sidney Harman, the stereo equipment mogul who died months after taking over Newsweek and engineering a merger with Barry Diller’ s IAC/InterActiveCorp to save the money-bleeding title.

His widow, Jane Harman, after a few months of footing the bill, decided to bail out and left Diller to fund it alone — before it was sold to IBT Media.