Josephs, Jay Raphael 1912–2005

(Ray Josephs)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 1, 1912, in Philadelphia, PA; died of kidney cancer April 5, 2005, in New York, NY. Journalist and author. Josephs was a former journalist who later founded a public relations company and became a bestselling author of time-management books. Interested in journalism from an early age—he started his own paper when he was eight—Joesphs attended the University of Pennsylvania before getting a job in 1929 with the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. After working the local desk for ten years, his editors sent him on assignment to South America, where his mission was to find former Philadelphians and write stories about their lives in a foreign country. Joseph himself fell in love with the city of Buenos Aires, and he quit his job to move to Argentina. In Buenos Aires, he worked as a freelancer for various American newspapers and magazines and made social contacts with such famous people as Orson Welles and Evita Duarte. The latter relationship offered him some insights into Duarte's husband, President Juan Perón, and to his book Argentine Diary: The Inside Story of the Coming of Fascism (1944). Josephs was opposed to Perón' political policies, and when his views became obvious through his book, he fled the country and moved back to the United States. He wrote other books about Argentina, including Spies and Saboteurs in Argentina (1943) and he coauthored Those Perplexing Argentines (1952). After lecturing for a time and giving talks about Argentina, he worked in public relations with Ben Sonnenberg. He then cofounded the public relations firms International Public Relations Co. and Ray Josephs-David E. Levy, Inc. Josephs also began writing books about time management that were very popular, including How to Gain an Extra Hour Every Day (1955) and Streamlining Your Executive Workload (1958). Honored in 2002 with the Achievement Is Ageless award, Josephs' last book was Plan While You Can (2004).

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PERIODICALS

Washington Post, April 9, 2005, p. B6.