Arthur Gelb

Arthur Gelb was one of those quintessential success stories: he rose from being a copy boy in 1944 to managing editor of The New York Times.  In the many years before he retired in 1989, Gelb was a passionate presence at the paper – writing for the culture pages, developing daily stand-alone sections like Sports-Monday, Science Times, Dining, Home, and Weekend.  He admitted, at one point, that “I’m not sure I would have wanted to work for me when I was an editor.  I was well aware that not every reporter was eager to chase down the countless (if sometimes dubious) leads I proposed – and some eyed me as though I were some kind of madman.”  He died at the age of 90.  But you can still hear Leonard’s conversation with Gelb in 2003.