Lee Kravitz

From 1987 to 1995, Kravitz was an editorial director of Scholastic Inc., an educational publishing company.[1] He oversaw several classroom magazines, including Choices, Science World, Search, Update,[2] and Junior Scholastic.[3] He also served as director of new media and special projects for the company's 37 magazines.[4] Among the products and programs he developed were the Scholastic/NBC News Videos with Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric, "Write Lyrics!" with Elektra Records, "SuperScience with Molly and Bert", an animated distance-learning series on Georgia Public Television, Scholastic NewsFax and the National Student Town Meeting Series on C-SPAN.[4]

Kravitz came to Parade in 1995 to launch React.[5] He also managed react.com, a website aimed at teenagers.[6] React reached a weekly circulation of 3 million through 245 newspapers before its close in June 2000.[6][7]

On March 1, 2000, Kravitz became editor-in-chief and senior vice president of Parade.[6] At Parade, Kravitz worked on franchises such as "What People Earn", "What America Eats" and the Parade High School All-American teams.[5] He also developed the popular PARADE Snapshot and Parade Picks columns.[5] Kravitz commissioned articles by writers and journalists such as Mitch Albom,[8] Michael Crichton,[9] Bruce Feiler,[10] David Halberstam,[11] Norman Mailer,[12] Jack Newfield,[13] Gail Sheehy,[14] Jim Webb[15] and Elie Wiesel.[16] Among the national and world leaders he edited were Aung Sun Suu Kyi,[17] Colin Powell,[18] Bill Clinton[19] and George W. Bush.[20] Cover stories during his tenure included Parade's annual ranking of the ten worst dictators[21] and David Wallechinsky's "Visit to the Bridge to Nowhere".[22] The response to this article led Congress to rescind a $235 million earmark to build two bridges in a remote part of Alaska.[23] Kravitz's term as editor-in-chief and senior vice president ended when he was fired in 2008.[24][25]

During this time, Kravitz also initiated cause-related campaigns with such organizations as the American Heart Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, HGTV, the Food Network, Research!America,[26] The White House Project,[27] Share Our Strength,[28] ABC Entertainment, and The Nature Conservancy.[4]

An honors graduate of Yale University[29] and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism,[30] Kravitz grew up in Cleveland, Ohio,[31] where he attended University School.[32] He began his career as a freelance writer and photojournalist, traveling to more than 40 countries.[33] He and the magazines under his direction have received more than 200 journalism awards.[33] In 1992, he won the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for "'Scholastic SEARCH: The Bill of Rights,' an innovative publication using rich stories to illustrate how the Bill of Rights affects students' daily lives."[34] He was also awarded the President's Award from the Association of Educational Publishers for his contributions to that industry.[33]

Kravitz lives in Manhattan[35] and Clinton Corners, New York,[36] with his wife, the literary agent Elizabeth Kaplan,[37] and their three children: Benjamin, Caroline, and Noah.[38] He is the author of Unfinished Business: One Man's Extraordinary Year of Trying to Do the Right Things, published by Bloomsbury USA.[39]

• Lee Kravitz's Biography