Elliott, Osborn 1924-2008

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 25, 1924, in New York, NY; died of complications from cancer, September 28, 2008, in New York, NY. Magazine editor, educator, administrator, and writer. Elliott stood at the helm of one of America's premier news magazines at one of the most exciting periods of its history. He joined Newsweek in 1955, after a few years with its primary rival, Time magazine. Elliott joined Newsweek as a senior business editor and rose through the ranks to become editor in chief, for the first time in 1969 and again in 1975, serving between those times as president and chief executive officer of the respected periodical. The 1960s and 1970s were exhilarating times for American news magazines, with civil rights issues, racial violence, the developing feminist and gay rights movements, counter-culture protest marches at home, and frightening events abroad, from Cold War issues to the conflict in Vietnam. Underlying the primary mission of the magazine to comment on the news was the ongoing tug-of-war to draw readers away from Time. Elliott, known to his colleagues as Oz, maintained an energetic liberal agenda at Newsweek, introducing lengthy special reports, byline credits for reporters accustomed to anonymity, public opinion polls, and an eye for new readers and reporters among an increasing younger population. Though he never overtook his former employer in the quest for readers, Elliott nearly doubled the circulation of Newsweek during his tenure, and he expanded the influence of the magazine on a global level. Elliott left Newsweek in 1976 for a position as deputy mayor of the city of New York for the salary of one dollar per year. His objective was to create new economic opportunities for a city that had fallen dangerously close to bankruptcy, an almost impossible mission. In 1979 he became the dean of journalism at Columbia University. By the time of his retirement in 1986, both the enrollment of journalism students and the endowment of the journalism school had increased dramatically. Elliott spent an additional eight years at the university as the George T. Delacorte Professor of Journalism. He spent his retirement as an advocate for liberal and urban causes. Elliott was honored by his profession when he was inducted into the fledgling Hall of Fame of the American Society of Magazine Editors. His civil rights activism earned him the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League. Elliott wrote about his invigorating decade with Newsweek in The World of Oz (1979). He was also the author of Men at the Top (1959) and coauthor of The News Media—A Service and a Force (1970).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Elliott, Osborn, The World of Oz, Viking (New York, NY), 1979.

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, September 29, 2008, sec. 1, p. 34.

Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2008, p. B7.

New York Times, September 29, 2008, p. A23.