Arthur Gelb (Inducted 2005)

Arthur Gelb has been retired from The New York Times Company Foundation since February 1, 2000 after having served as its president since September 1, 1990. He retired as managing editor of The New York Times in 1990, bringing to a close a 45-year career in The Times newsroom.

Mr. Gelb was recognized by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors for his contributions to molding The New York Times’ cultural report in the modern era.

He joined The New York Times in 1944 as a 20-year-old copy boy, having just dropped out of City College of New York. (He later earned his degree from New York University.)

During the next 45 years, he worked his way from reporter to managing editor. As deputy managing editor in the 1970’s, during the paper’s conversion to four-section newspaper, he was the main newsroom architect and overall editor of the daily feature sections _ first Weekend, then Living, Home, SportsMonday and Science Times.

He also conceived numerous part 2’s for The Times Magazine and oversaw redesigns of the Book Review, Travel and other sections.

As a theater critic, Mr. Gelb was among the first to recognize such young talents as Barbra Streisand, Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce. Later, as editor, he broadened the arts pages beyond their local focus, traveling to assign coverage by national and foreign correspondents and a network of contributors.

Mr. Gelb writes in his memoir “City Room” that, in 1975, Times editors were warned that rising costs threatened to drive the paper into unprofitability. Gelb began with a half-page of open space that anchored daily culture coverage. The first new section, Weekend boosted Friday circulation by 35,000, with significant advertising gains. Next came The Living Section, increasing Wednesday circulation by 32,000. Later came The Home Section on Thursday, Sports Monday and Science Times on Tuesday. In a little more than three years, the Times went from barely profitable into a thriving newspaper.

Mr. Gelb, a 100-percent New Yorker, was born in Manhattan, attended public school in the Bronx and graduated from New York University in 1946. He lives in the heart of Manhattan with his wife, Barbara, a biographer, and is the father of two married sons.

Mr. Gelb is co-author with his wife, Barbara, of "O'Neill," the first definitive biography of the playwright that was published in 1962. He is the co-editor with A. M. Rosenthal of a number of books including "The Night The Lights Went Out," "The Pope's Journey to The United States," "Great Lives of the Twentieth Century," and The Sophisticated Traveler series. They are also the authors of a book dealing with anti-semitism, "One More Victim."

Mr. Gelb served as metropolitan editor of The Times from 1967 to 1976, a period when New York experienced profound financial, social and racial upheavals, requiring knowledgeable and sophisticated ways of covering communities in transition.

In 1967, Mr. Gelb became metropolitan editor and served in that capacity for nine years, a period during which NYC experience social, racial and ro nine a years position until 1976, when he became assistant managing editor in charge of starting the new daily sections for The Times. During the period he was metropolitan editor, New York City experienced financial, social and racial upheavals, requiring new depth in the reporting and analysis of communities in transition.

In 1976, Mr. Gelb became assistant managing editor in charge of starting new daily sections for The Times -- Sports Monday, Science Times, Living, Home and Weekend. As deputy managing editor in the 1970's, he supervised many areas of the paper's feature coverage including culture, science, sports, style and travel. He was named managing editor in 1986.

Mr. Gelb is a trustee of the advisory boards of the Columbia Journalism Review, New York University’s Ireland House and the National Arts Journalism Fellowship Program. He has served as a Pulitzer Prize juror and as a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee. As president of The New York Times Foundation, he has assisted in the planning of numerous non-profit projects in the arts, journalism and education.