Kevin Klose (born September 1, 1940) is an American journalist, author, broadcast executive, and

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some t ...

, who served as president of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

for almost a decade, overseeing a major growth era for the service.

Life and career

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada, Klose grew up in

Red Hook, New York Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 9,953 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 11,319 in 2010. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the Huds ...

. His parents, Woody and Virginia Taylor Klose, were radio producers and writers during the 1930s and 1940s. Klose is a graduate of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, ''cum laude'', in 1962. He has authored five books, including ''Russia and the Russians: Inside the Closed Society''. For 25 years Klose was a reporter and editor 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 ...

''. From 1977-81 he served as Moscow Bureau Chief. Klose served successively as director of U.S. international broadcasting, overseeing the U.S. Government’s global radio and television news services (1997–98) and president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), broadcasting to Central Europe and the former Soviet Union (1994–97). He joined RFE/RL in 1992 as director of Radio Liberty, broadcasting to the former Soviet Union in its national languages. Among his achievements, he relocated RFE/RL from Munich to Prague and helped devise and implement a strategy to refocus the mission of all U.S.-funded international broadcasting and update operations. From 1998 to September 2008 Klose was president of the

(NPR), the United States' largest nonprofit radio outlet for news and cultural programming. He served in this position beginning in December 1998, and also served as the organization's chief executive officer from 1998 to 1999. He was also a member of NPR's corporate board of directors, and a Trustee of the NPR Foundation. In 2008 he was named President Emeritus. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and the nonprofit America Abroad Media. Klose served as Dean of the

Philip Merrill College of Journalism The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is a journalism school located at the University of Maryland, College Park. The college was founded in 1947 and was named after newspaper editor Philip Merrill in 2001. The school has about 550 undergr ...

at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

from April 2009 to July 2012 and is currently a tenured professor. Klose served as President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from 2012 to 2014.Klose
to be RFE/RL acting president, RFE/RL, January 25, 2013

Published works

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References

External links

Biography at National Public Radio site
(November 11, 1998)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klose, Kevin Living people NPR personalities People from Toronto People from Red Hook, New York Harvard University alumni American chief executives 1940 births People from Washington, D.C. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people University of Maryland, College Park faculty