Grunwald, Henry (Anatole) 1922-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born December 2, 1922, in Vienna, Austria; died of congestive heart failure February 26, 2005, in New York, NY. Editor, ambassador, and author. Grunwald was the former editor-in-chief of Time magazine, as well as a U.S. ambassador to Austria. A child of Jewish parents, he was forced to attend a ghetto school when the Nazis rose to power. When World War II broke out, his family fled Austria, traveling to Czechoslovakia, France, Morocco, and Spain before making their way to New York City. There, Grunwald attended high school and started his own school newspaper. He then attended New York University, studying journalism, then switching to philosophy while also editing the university newspaper. After graduating in 1944, he was hired as a copy boy at Time. He became a reporter in 1945, a senior editor in 1951, a managing editor in 1968, and corporate editor in 1977. From 1979 until 1987 Grunwald served as Time's editor-in-chief. During his tenure as head of the magazine, he moderated the right-wing tone of the periodical and added coverage of new subjects, ranging from the economy to environmental issues and the arts. After his retirement, he was selected by President Ronald Reagan to be ambassador to Austria. At the time, President Kurt Waldheim was being challenged for his record as a former German military officer. Grunwald served as ambassador from 1988 until 1990. He was the editor of Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait (1962) and Sex in America (1964), as well as the author of such books as One Man's America: A Journalist's Search for the Heart of His Country (1997), the autobiography Twilight: Losing Sight, Gaining Insight (1999), and the novel A Saint, More or Less (2003).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, February 28, 2005, section 4, p. 9.

Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2005, p. B7.

New York Times, February 28, 2005, p. A23.

Washington Post, February 27, 2005, p. C11.