Henry A. Grunwald

Henry Anatole Grunwald (December 3, 1922 – February 26, 2005) was an Austrian-born American journalist and diplomat. He was best known for his position as managing editor of Time magazine and editor in chief of Time, Inc.

Henry Grunwald
Grunwald in 1983
United States Ambassador to Austria
In office
December 23, 1987 – January 1, 1990
PresidentRonald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Preceded byRonald S. Lauder
Succeeded byRoy M. Huffington
Personal details
Born
Heinz Anatol Grünwald

(1922-12-03)December 3, 1922
Vienna, Austria
DiedFebruary 26, 2005(2005-02-26) (aged 82)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Beverly Suser;
Louise Melhado
OccupationDiplomat, editor

In 2001, he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class.[1]

Career

Grunwald was born Heinz Anatol Grünwald to a secular Jewish family in Vienna.[2] His father, Alfred Grünwald, wrote libretti for operettas by Lehár, Kálmán and Oscar Straus. His mother was Mila Löwenstein. After the 1938 Anschluss the family left Austria for Czechoslovakia and then Paris. In 1940 they arrived in the United States via brief periods in Biarritz, Casablanca, and Lisbon.

Grunwald had ambitions to be a playwright, and got a job as a copy boy at Time while studying at New York University. He worked his way up at Time magazine and was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Jason McManus upon his retirement in 1987. He was the first to give Time writers bylines, a practice which had not been allowed previously. He also introduced new departments such as Behavior, Energy, The Sexes, Economy and Dance.[3] He ordered the famous (some say infamous) cover article, "Is God Dead?" He moved the magazine away from Republican partisanship. He personally wrote the Time editorial calling for President Richard Nixon to resign.

As managing editor, and then editor-in-chief, Grunwald directed the writing an intellectual level upwards, using his intellectual rigor to evaluate each proposed story. He wanted his magazine to identify, and help promote moralistic solutions to current national problems.[4]

In 1962 he edited and wrote the introduction to "Salinger, a Critical and Personal Portrait", a collection of essays about J.D. Salinger which includes previously published essays by John Updike, Leslie Fiedler and Joan Didion, among others, as well as Time's own article about the writer.

After serving 11 years as Time's managing editor, Grunwald took on the role of editor-in-chief of all of Time, Inc.'s magazines, including Fortune, Sports Illustrated, People and Money. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. Ambassador to his native Austria, a post he held until 1990.[5][6]

External video
video icon Booknotes interview with Grunwald on One Man's America: A Journalist's Search for the Heart of His Country, February 2, 1997, C-SPAN

On September 5, 1998, Grunwald released his auto-biography One Man's America, describing his emigration to America, and his life in the States. He also wrote a novel, A Saint, More or Less, which was published in 2003.

In his final years Grunwald was gradually losing his eyesight due to macular degeneration, a condition he wrote about in Twilight: Losing Sight, Gaining Insight (1999). This led to his close relationship with the noted non-profit Lighthouse International. Annually The Lighthouse awards The Henry A. Grunwald Award for Public Service to those whose actions benefit society as a whole or, more specifically, benefit those with vision impairment issues. Grunwald is both the namesake and first recipient of this award.[7]

Personal life and death

In 1953 Grunwald married Beverly Suser. They had three children, screenwriter Peter Grunwald, Democratic political consultant Mandy Grunwald, and writer Lisa Grunwald. They were married until her death of breast cancer in 1981.

In 1987, he married former Vogue editor and Manhattan socialite Louise Melhado (nee Liberman). This was her third marriage, as she had previously been married to Richard Savitt and Frederick A. Melhado.[8]

Grunwald died in New York City on February 26, 2005, at the age of 82.[9]

Selected bibliography

References
  1. "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF) (in German). p. 1442. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  2. Reed, Christopher (March 2, 2005). "Henry Grunwald - Editor of Time who called for Nixon's resignation". The Guardian. He was born the son of a successful operetta librettist, Alfred Grunwald, in a non-practising Jewish family, and named Heinz (changed to Henry in America).
  3. Severo, Richard (February 27, 2005). "Henry A. Grunwald, Editor Who Directed Shift in Time Magazine, Is Dead at 82". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  4. Walter Isaacson, American Sketches (2009) pp 231-35.
  5. Schudel, Matt (February 27, 2005). "Henry Grunwald, Managing Editor of Time Magazine, Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  6. Whitfield, Stephen J. "The American Jew as Journalist" (PDF). PolicyArchive.
  7. "Lighthouse International - Henry A. Grunwald Award for Public Service". www.lighthouse.org. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05.
  8. "Louise Melhado Is Married To Henry Anatole Grunwald". The New York Times. 2 May 1987. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  9. Schudel, Matt (February 27, 2005). "Henry Grunwald, Managing Editor of Time Magazine, Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
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