Robert M. Bleiberg (June 21, 1924 – November 3, 1997) was an American editor, publisher and writer. He was the long-time editor, publisher and editorial director of ''Barron's''.

Biography

Bleiberg was born in

Brooklyn 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 ...

in 1924 and graduated from

Townsend Harris High School Townsend Harris High School at Queens College (THHS) is a public magnet high school for the humanities in the borough of Queens in New York City. Students and alumni often refer to themselves as "Harrisites." Townsend Harris consistently ranks a ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and from

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 ...

in 1943. He also received a master's degree in business from

New York University Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

. He joined ''Barron's'' in 1946 as associate editor after serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in World War II and being wounded in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. In 1954. he became editor of the newspaper and held the position through 1981. In 1980 he was named vice president of the Dow Jones magazine group, and in 1982 editorial director and publisher of ''Barron's.'' Bleiberg remained publisher until 1989, and was editorial director from 1982 until he retired in 1991''.'' He was credited for increasing the circulation of the newspaper by fivefold and wrote a weekly column, where he expressed staunchly pro-

free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

views and harsh criticisms against government intervention. Bleiberg received an honorary doctorate from Hillsdale College, where he was also a contributor to the campus publication ''

Imprimis ''Imprimis'' is the monthly speech digest of Hillsdale College, published by the Center for Constructive Alternatives. Salon.com described it as "the most influential conservative publication you've never heard of." Its name is Latin, meaning bo ...

''. In 1985, Bleiberg received the Elliott V. Bell Award by the New York Financial Writers Association. He was also named by the TJFR Group and MasterCard International as one of the 20th century's 100 best business journalists in 1999. Bleiberg died of leukemia on November 3, 1997 at New York Hospital in

. He was called "The Great Contrarian" in his obituary by ''

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 ...

''.

References

1924 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American journalists American publishers (people) American magazine editors Writers from Brooklyn American newspaper publishers (people) Dow Jones & Company people Columbia College (New York) alumni American financial writers American business writers American libertarians Deaths from leukemia {{US-editor-stub Townsend Harris High School alumni New York University Stern School of Business alumni