LOS ANGELES - Franklin Otis Booth Jr., a member of the founding family of the Los Angeles Times, died Sunday from complications of Lou Gehrig's disease, his family told the paper. He was 84.

Booth was a great-grandson of newspaper founder Gen. Harrison Gray Otis. During the 1950s, Booth oversaw the printing of the newspaper. In 1968, he was named vice president of Times Mirror Corp. in charge of forest products and commercial printing.

His tenure at the paper overlapped with that of his second cousin and close friend, Otis Chandler, the famed publisher who held the reins of the paper from 1960 to 1980.

During his early years at the Times, Booth began investing in real estate with his friend Charles Munger, now vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. They worked on two real estate projects in Pasadena and quadrupled their money, Munger told the paper.

It was Munger who introduced Booth to investor Warren Buffett in 1963, before Buffett's business acumen had earned him billions.

Booth's early decision to invest with Buffett left him with shares in Berkshire Hathaway, where Buffett is now chairman. Forbes.com placed Booth at No. 204 on its 2007 list of the richest Americans.

In 1972, Booth retired from the Times and operated several businesses before trying his hand at citrus farming and raising livestock.