Whitehead Goetz (1927 – October 1, 2008) was the Executive Editor (under Chief Editor Warren E. Preece) for the first version of the 15th edition of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''.Contemporary coverage of the unveiling of the 15th edition
in

TIME magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

(January 21, 1974) More importantly, he was the Chief Editor for the second version of the 15th edition, which was a massive revision and re-organization of the ''Britannica''. Goetz, who obtained a B.S. from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1950 and joined Britannica in 1952, served as Chief Editor from 1979 to 1991. He is given critical acclaim for making the second version a much more useful

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

, moving it away from the

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preconceptions of

Mortimer J. Adler Mortimer Jerome Adler (; December 28, 1902 – June 28, 2001) was an American philosopher, educator, encyclopedist, popular author and lay theologian. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He taught at ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goetz, Philip W. Encyclopædia Britannica 1927 births 2008 deaths Northwestern University alumni