David Abram Laventhol (July 15, 1933 – April 8, 2015) was an American newspaper editor and publisher at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', '' Newsday'' and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

''. He was known for his work designing newspapers, most notably as first editor of the ''Style'' section of ''The Washington Post''. He was also known for his shy and humble style, being called an "unlikely mogul".

Early life and family

Laventhol was born into a journalist's family in Philadelphia, the middle child of three to Clare (née Horwald) and Jesse Laventhol,

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

bureau chief on the ''Philadelphia Record''. Later the family moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

where Jesse was in charge of ''Major Legislative Actions''. David went to Woodrow Wilson High School, where he edited the school's paper the ''Beacon'', and then went to

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

where he majored in English and was elected managing editor of the '' Yale Daily News''. He graduated in 1957 and later received a master's from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1960. David Laventhol was the cousin of painter Hank Laventhol.

Career

Laventhol joined the '' St. Petersberg Times'' (Florida) in 1957 as a reporter, and after taking a break for a master's degree, became national news editor before going to the '' New York Herald Tribune'' as city editor in 1963. In 1966,

Ben Bradlee Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (, 1921 – , 2014) was an American journalist who served as managing editor, then as executive editor of ''The Washington Post'', from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the ''Post'' joined ''The New Y ...

brought him to ''The Washington Post'' as night managing editor, and in 1968 gave Laventhol the task of redesigning the "For and About Women" section. They created the ''Style'' section, described as a "monumental achievement", later "imitated in every paper in America", and which concentrated on vibrant writing and feature articles. Laventhol then moved to ''Newsday'' in 1969, soon becoming editor under publisher

Bill Moyers Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers, June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Counci ...

. In that period he designed ''Part II'', its counterpart to the ''Style'' section, and introduced a Sunday edition in 1972. During Laventhol's editorship, ''Newsday'' won four

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

, including the 1974 Public Service prize for its massive 33-part investigation "The Heroin Trail", uncovering heroin from its production in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

to addiction on the streets of Long Island, described by

Floyd Abrams Floyd Abrams (born in July 9, 1936) is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on constitutional law and has argued in 13 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Abrams represented ''The New York Times'' ...

as the "single most daunting and expensive series in the institution's history". Laventhol rose to publisher in 1978 and launched a New York City edition in 1985. Called ''New York Newsday'', it won critical praise for its mix of news and entertainment, with some calling it the "most enterprising and in many respects the best daily newspaper in New York City". ''Newsday'' was at that time owned by the

Times-Mirror The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000. History It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...

corporation, and Laventhol moved to California 1989 as publisher of the ''Los Angeles Times'' and president of the corporation. The ''Los Angeles Times'' won three Pulitzer Prizes under Laventhol's leadership, including the Spot News prize "for balanced, comprehensive, penetrating coverage under deadline pressure of the second, most destructive day of the 992Los Angeles Riots." The paper opened new regional editions and a Spanish-language edition.

Retirement

Diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, Laventhol retired from Times-Mirror in 1994. Many of his expansions were reversed in the contraction of the newspaper industry, most notably ''New York Newsday'', which was closed in 1995 for financial reasons, with some sources citing its loss-making and others contending it was about to break even. During his retirement, Laventhol was publisher of the ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, an ...

'', contributing a number of articles critical of the direction of the news industry, and the effects of modern media being simultaneous with the events they are reporting — having been a passenger on Jet Blue Flight 292, which showed live news of its own troubled flight.

Freedom of the Press

Laventhol was a strong advocate of press freedom, and had a long association with the

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia University ...

, the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...

, and the Pulitzer Prize committee, chairing each of these at various periods. Laventhol is known for his long role in promoting press freedom in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. As editor of ''Newsday'' in 1976, he sent

Les Payne Leslie Payne (July 12, 1941 – March 19, 2018) was an American journalist. He served as an editor and columnist at ''Newsday'' and was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists. Payne received a Pulitzer Prize for his investig ...

, one of the undercover reporters from "The Heroin Trail", to

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

to cover the riots. As a black man, Payne was able to report more accurately on the number of deaths during that uprising, leading to Payne and ''Newsday'' being banned in South Africa, only returning to cover Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990. After Mandela's speech at the

in Kyoto in 1991, Laventhol took the 1994 congress to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

very shortly before South Africa's first free elections. Mandela and F.W. de Klerk gave the opening speeches, with Mandela thanking the international press for keeping apartheid in the news and saying: "We are confident that your presence will, as in the past, assist in the birth of the democratic new order."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laventhol, David 1933 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Los Angeles Times publishers (people) The Washington Post people Newsday people