TRAVIS, Neal 1940-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 8, 1940, in Otago, New Zealand; died of cancer August 14, 2002, in New York, NY. Journalist and author. Travis was an admired gossip columnist who gained a wide following of readers in New York City. At the age of sixteen he dropped out of high school and accepted a job with the Dunedin, New Zealand, Evening Star. He quickly moved on to other newspapers, including the Sydney Sun, Port Moresby, New Guinea's South Pacific Post, and the Sydney Daily Mirror. In 1966 he traveled to New York City as a correspondent for the Sydney paper and fell in love with the Big Apple, though he would not work there full-time until 1977. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he was an editor for the Daily Mirror and Melbourne Truth, becoming editor-in-chief of three Australian newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. When Murdoch purchased the New York Post, Travis found a way to get back to New York City as the editor of the "Page Six" section. He later left the Post to edit the "Intelligencer" column for New York Magazine, and during the early 1990s he made the leap to television briefly as a producer on the news program Hard Copy. In 1993 Travis returned to the New York Post to write the gossip column "Neal Travis' New York." In addition to his journalism work, Travis was also the author of six novels, including Manhattan (1979), Castles (1982), Palaces (1983), Mansions (1984), Wings (1985), and Island (1986).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2002, p. B13.

New York Post, August 15, 2002, p. 6.

New York Times, August 15, 2002, p. A21.

Times (London, England), August 17, 2002.