John Jay Iselin (December 8, 1933 – May 6, 2008) was a magazine and television

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

, and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. He served as president of

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

, president of the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

, and president of the

Marconi Foundation The Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation, briefly called Marconi Foundation and currently known as The Marconi Society, was established by Gioia Marconi Braga in 1974 to commemorate the centennial of the birth (April 24, 1874) of h ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Early life

Iselin was born on December 8, 1933 in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

. He was a son of Fanny ( Humphreys) Iselin, and William Jay Iselin, a New York banker who moved his family South, where he owned cotton mills, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. His father died in an airplane crash in Europe in April 1951. His paternal grandparents were Eleanor ( Jay) Iselin (a daughter of Col. William Jay) and Arthur Iselin (grandson of

Adrian Georg Iselin Adrian Georg Iselin (January 17, 1818 – March 28, 1905) was a New York financier who invested in and developed real estate, railroads, and mining operations. For many years during his early business career he was engaged in importing with his ...

). Through his father, his fourth great-grandfather was

United States founding father The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the Am ...

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...

, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and through his mother, he was descended from

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

. His maternal grandfather was Richard Duane Humphreys of Barnstable, Mount Kisco, New York. Iselin was a graduate of St. Mark's School, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he served as

Managing Editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edito ...

John Jay Iselin, Crimed
of the

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, ''Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colo ...

. In 1959, he was selected as a

Marshall Scholar The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...

, and in 2001 became founding Chairman of the New York Marshall Committee. After Harvard, he went to Cambridge University where he studied law and received a master's degree before returning to Harvard where he earned a Ph.D. in government in 1964.

Career

In the early 1960s, Iselin went to work for ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', covering the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

under

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

before becoming national affairs editor. He then succeeded Cass Canfield Jr. as publisher of the trade division of

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, before becoming general manager of

in 1971. He later became president of WNET in 1973 and served in that role until his resignation in October 1986, remaining at the helm until the board named his successor, Dr. William F. Baker. From 1988 to 2000, Iselin was appointed president of

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

. During his years as president, "he completed a $50 million capital campaign, created endowed professorships in the schools of art, architecture and engineering and added new trustees and new deans for art and the humanities. In 2000 he became president of the Marconi Foundation, based at Columbia University, which supports innovations in telecommunications." He was also an adjunct faculty member of the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

Personal life

He was married to Josephine Lea Iselin, a partner in the New York law firm of Lankenau, Kovner & Kurtz. For over forty years, he spent his summers in

Vinalhaven, Maine Vinalhaven is a town on the larger of the two Fox Islands in Knox County, Maine, United States. Vinalhaven is also used to refer to the island itself. The population was 1,279 at the 2020 census. It is home to a thriving lobster fishery and ho ...

and had a family farm in

Ghent, New York Ghent is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States, with a ZIP code of 12075. The population was 5,303 at the 2020 census, down from the 2010 census. Ghent is centrally located in the county and is northeast of the city of Hudson. His ...

. Together, they were the parents of five children, including: * William Jay Iselin, who married Claudia Rose Thompson, in 1988. * Josephine Lea Iselin, who married Kenneth Andrew Pearce in 1991. * Fannie Humphreys Iselin, who married sculptor Christopher Manning Minot, sister of

Susan Minot Susan Minot (born December 7, 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter and painter. Early life Minot was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Her father, ...

, in 1991. * Alison Jay Iselin, who married Daniel Jonathan Russell in 1995. Iselin died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

on May 6, 2008 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. At his death, he was survived by five children and thirteen grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iselin, John Jay 1933 births 2008 deaths Presidents of Cooper Union John Jay St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni Marshall Scholars Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty People from Greenville, South Carolina People from Vinalhaven, Maine The Harvard Crimson people Jay family