Milton Esterow, an award-winning journalist who owned and edited ARTnews for 42 years, died on Friday at 97. Schapiro finally agreed after nearly a decade, and Esterow published the article by journalist Helen Epstein in 1983. “The art world is fascinating and mysterious,” Esterow told the Times on the occasion of the acquisition. Esterow’s fascination with the behind-the-scenes goings-on of the art world was one reason he began the Top 200 Collectors list in 1990. He once said he had no regrets about spending a career investigating the art world, save for one: “It hasn’t helped my tennis game, but that’s another story.”