Seth Lipsky (born 1946) is the founder and editor of the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', an independent conservative daily in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

that ceased its print edition on September 30, 2008. Lipsky counts Ronald Reagan,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, Ariel Sharon, and

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

among his intellectual and ideological heroes. He has a long history of working in the newspaper business, including "a nearly 20-year-long career" at 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 ...

'' that included

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Lipsky also founded and was editor of

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...

, an English-language successor to a Yiddish-language longtime newspaper of the same name. He has also written several invited articles and guest opinions 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 d ...

'', and is the author of six books.

Early life

Born 1946 in Brooklyn, from age one Lipsky was "raised in a secular Jewish family in

Great Barrington, Mass Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, ...

" and graduated from

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 high ...

. in 1968.

The Jewish Daily Forward

In 1990, Lipsky started an English-language version of ''The Jewish Daily Forward'' (''The Forward''), which was previously a widely read Yiddish-language daily newspaper. Lipsky resigned in 2000 after a clash with the owners of ''The Forward'', who threatened to shut down the English-language publication unless Lipsky was fired. The dispute was over Lipsky's editorials supporting Ronald Reagan and the war in Vietnam.

The New York Sun

In 2002 he founded and began serving as editor of ''The New York Sun''. Although the paper only lasted six years, and gave away more copies than it sold, but a spokesperson at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

admitted, after a criticism by ''The Sun'', that the paper "does punch way above its circulation number, on occasion." Lipsky's problems were compounded in that he began and operated at a time when the newspaper industry's situation was described as "pretty grim." Among its noteworthy "social life" features were the paper's ''Along the Wine Trail'' wine column and

crossword A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the ans ...

puzzle.

Shutting down the print edition

When it was time to give his 110 full-time employees the bad news, he made it "'in an orderly way' .. not filing for bankruptcy .. pay employees through November .. health insurance .. through Dec. 31." When asked why the shutdown, Lipsky said "we needed additional funds ... the 2008 financial collapse was sweeping the world, and the Internet was emerging as a challenge to traditional newspapering."

Books

Among the books he authored are: * ''The Citizens Constitution: An Annotated Guide'' * ''The Rise of

Abraham Cahan Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of ''The Forward'' (), ...

'' * ''The Floating Kilogram''

Teaching

A 2011 interview's overview listed second "teaching at Columbia University's School of Journalism."

Personal

Lipsky served in the U.S. Armed Forces and wrote for '' Stars and Stripes'' while in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. He is married to Amity Shlaes, a columnist and author.

References

External links

The New York Sun

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipsky, Seth 1946 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) The Wall Street Journal people The New York Sun people American newspaper editors 21st-century American newspaper founders Harvard University alumni American people of Jewish descent