Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined Reason's staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000. He is currently an editor-at-large at ''Reason''. Gillespie has edited one

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

, ''Choice: The Best of Reason''.

Life and career

Gillespie was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and grew up in

Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County () is a county located on the coast of central New Jersey. The county is part of the New York metropolitan area and is situated along the northern half of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population w ...

, where he graduated from Mater Dei High School. His educational history includes a B.A. in English and psychology from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

and a M.A. in English from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

, as well as a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in English literature from the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. He has two sons, Jack and Neal Gillespie. Before joining Reason, Gillespie worked at a number of small trade magazines and other journalistic outlets. In an interview with

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

anchor

Jake Tapper Jacob Paul Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is an American journalist, author, and cartoonist. He is the lead Washington anchor for CNN, hosts the weekday television news show ''The Lead with Jake Tapper'', and co-hosts the Sunday morning public af ...

, Gillespie and Tapper said they contributed articles for the alternative website Suck.com in the 1990s. On Suck.com, Gillespie wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Mr. Mxyzptlk. In 2010, ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' named Gillespie number 18 on their list of "The Right's Top 25 Journalists". Gillespie himself is a contributor to ''The Daily Beast''. Gillespie shared the award for "Best Advocacy Journalism" at the 53rd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards with

Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, ''The Drew Carey Show'', an ...

and Paul Feine for their work "Reason Saves Cleveland."Reason.com
/ref> He also received an honorable mention for "Best News Organization Website." In 2011, Gillespie published '' The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America'' with ''Reason'' editor-in-chief

Matt Welch Matthew Lee Welch (born July 31, 1968) is an American blogger, journalist, author, and libertarian political pundit. Early life Welch was born on July 31, 1968 in Bellflower, California. He was raised in Long Beach, California. He attended UC ...

. Gillespie is on the board of

Ideas Beyond Borders In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. ...

, a nonprofit founded by

Faisal Saeed Al Mutar Faisal Saeed Al Mutar ( ar, فيصل سعيد المطر; born 1991) is an Iraqi-American human-rights activist, writer, and satirist who was admitted to the United States as a refugee in 2013. He is founder of Global Conversations and Ideas Beyo ...

and

Melissa Chen Melissa Chen (born 1985) is a Singaporean journalist and activist. She is a contributing editor for ''Spectator USA'' and co-founder of Ideas Beyond Borders. She resides in the United States. Biography Chen was born in Singapore. She was raised ...

. Gillespie is known for wearing black, which he describes as appealing to his political beliefs. He calls himself an "apatheist," referring to his apathy over the question of God's existence. Although he was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, he no longer identifies as one.

References

External links

"Reason Staff: Nick Gillespie"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Nick 1963 births Living people 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers American libertarians American magazine editors American online journalists American political journalists American political writers Journalists from New York City Mater Dei High School (New Jersey) alumni American opinion journalists People from Monmouth County, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Temple University alumni University at Buffalo alumni Writers from Brooklyn American male non-fiction writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers Former Roman Catholics American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent