Donald Edward Graham (born April 22, 1945) is the majority owner and

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of Graham Holdings Company. He was formerly the publisher of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' (1979–2000) and later was the lead independent director of

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

's board of directors (2009–2015).

Early life

His parents were Katharine Graham (née Meyer), later a publisher of ''The Washington Post'', and her husband, Philip Graham.Godfrey Hodgson
"Katharine Graham - Washington Post publisher who took over the family business after her husband's suicide and saw it through the Watergate scandal"
''The Guardian'', July 18, 2001. His maternal grandmother was Agnes Meyer. His maternal grandfather, Eugene Meyer, bought the bankrupt ''Post'' shortly after stepping down as

Chairman of the Federal Reserve The chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the Federal Reserve, and is the active executive officer of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The chairman presides at meetings of the Board. ...

in mid-1933. Graham's mother Katherine Meyer was baptized as Lutheran as a child, as her mother was Lutheran. Her father was Jewish. Katherine (Meyer) Graham later attended an Episcopal church.Zweigenhaft, Richard L., and G. William Domhof
The New CEOs: Women, African American, Latino, and Asian American Leaders of Fortune 500 Companies
Published: 2014-03-18 , Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers His father Philip Graham was also raised as a Lutheran. Graham graduated from the private St. Albans School. He attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

. In 1965, he was elected president of '' The Harvard Crimson'', the college's daily. After graduation in 1966, Graham volunteered for military service. He served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

from 1967 to 1968, as part of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

1st Cavalry Division. From January 1969 to June 1970, Graham joined the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia as a patrolman.

''The Post''

Eugene Meyer, Graham's maternal grandfather, bought ''

'' at a bankruptcy sale in 1933. Graham's father Philip was publisher of ''The Washington Post'' from 1946 until 1961, and president of the Washington Post Company from 1947 until his death in 1963. Graham’s mother Katharine took over the newspaper as publisher after her husband's death. She led ''The Washington Post'' newspaper for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that helped expose misdeeds of President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, who was persuaded to resign. She has been widely described as one of the most powerful American women of the 20th century. In 1971, Donald Graham joined ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter. He held a variety of news and business positions at the ''Post'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' (until 2010, it was owned by The Washington Post Company), until the newspaper was sold in 2013 to Jeff Bezos. Graham was elected to the board of the company in September 1974; in 1976 he was appointed as executive vice president and general manager of the Post. Graham became publisher of ''The Washington Post'' in 1979, succeeding his mother. She retained her corporate positions of chairman of the board and CEO of The Washington Post Company. The Company owns the newspaper, as well as the educational services provider Kaplan, Inc., Post-Newsweek Stations, Cable One, ''Slate'' magazine, and other smaller companies. Donald Graham became CEO in 1991 and chairman of the company in May 1993, while Katharine Graham assumed the position of chairman of the executive committee of the Washington Post Company. In September 2000, Graham was elected chairman of the newspaper and passed the position of publisher to Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr.

Other roles

Graham also served as a member of the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

Board between 2001 and 2010. He is on the board of the District of Columbia College Access Program and is a trustee of the Federal City Council in Washington, D.C. Graham formerly served as a member of the board of directors of the Summit Fund of Washington. He is also an invitee of the Bilderberg Group and attended conference meetings in Greece 2009, and Spain 2010.

Honors

In 1974, Graham was awarded an honorary doctorate from Whittier College. In 2003, Graham received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2004.

Personal life

In 1967, Graham married Mary Wissler. Wissler earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard-Radcliffe, where they met, and a J.D. degree from

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

. She is a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center, focusing on such issues as health and safety regulations. In 2007, the couple announced that they were separating. They have four children. On June 30, 2012, Graham married Amanda Bennett, the current CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media. under Joe Biden. She formerly edited ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' and the '' Lexington Herald-Leader'', was the former director of '' Voice of America'', and former executive editor at Bloomberg News. She was in charge of a global team of investigative reporters and editors. His daughter Laura is married to Tim O'Shaughnessy, former CEO of LivingSocial. He is current president of Graham Holdings Company.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Donald E. 1945 births American chief executives in the mass media industry American people of German-Jewish descent Directors of Facebook Graham family (publishing) Harvard College alumni Living people Members of the American Philosophical Society Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia officers Newmark family Place of birth missing (living people) St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.) alumni The Harvard Crimson people The Washington Post people The Washington Post publishers