John Eli Vinocur (June 17, 1940 – February 6, 2022) was an American journalist, editor, and columnist known for his coverage of international news. He was metro editor for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', after serving as the paper's bureau chief in France and Germany, before becoming the executive editor for the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

''. Later in his career, he was a columnist for the ''Tribune'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

Personal life

Vinocur was born in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

on May 17, 1940. According to his obit in the New York Times, Vinocur was "the son of Harry Vinocur, a journalist and historian who wrote under the pen name John Stuart, and Helen (Segal) Vinocur, who headed the family philanthropy office of the heiress Rosenwald Ascoli, which was concerned mainly with child welfare." He graduated from Forest Hills High School and from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

in Ohio. He was married three times; first to Martine Weill and Elisabeth Schmidt, with both marriages ending in divorce, and then to Harriet Berglund, who he was married to from 1985 onwards. He was in a relationship with Jacqueline Shaap at the time he died. He had four children and lived in Paris at his death. Vincour died in Amsterdam from complications of sepsis on February 6, 2022, at the age of 81.

Career

Vincour began his journalism career for local newspapers outside of New York City and

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

before he was hired by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

. There, he covered major events around the world in 1968, including wars in

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

. He subsequently moved to ''The New York Times'', where he was the paper's bureau chief in Germany (1977–1982) and France (1982–1985), before returning to the United States and eventually becoming the paper's metro editor, in charge of local and regional news coverage. He then became a senior correspondent at the ''

'' reporting on matters ranging from politics and economics to sports and culture in Europe, Asia and the United States. He was the paper's executive executive editor and served in that post, as well as that of the newspaper's vice president, from 1986 until 1996.

Awards

In 1986, Vinocur was awarded the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...

for Magazine Reporting.http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/prev/prev80.html The George Polk Awards for Journalism In June 2008, he was awarded the French Légion d'Honneur by the President of France

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinocur, John 1940 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists Agence France-Presse journalists Associated Press reporters American columnists American expatriates in France American expatriates in Germany American male journalists Deaths from sepsis Forest Hills High School (New York) alumni George Polk Award recipients Infectious disease deaths in the Netherlands International Herald Tribune people Journalists from New York City Oberlin College alumni Recipients of the Legion of Honour The New York Times editors The Wall Street Journal people War correspondents of the Nigerian Civil War Writers from Queens, New York