John Leo

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John Leoth
Born(1935-06-16)June 16, 1935
Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 9, 2022(2022-05-09) (aged 86)
The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Toronto
OccupationJournalist
Spouse(s)Stephanie Wolf (divorced)
​
(m. 1978)​
Children3

John Patrick Leo (June 16, 1935 – May 9, 2022) was an American writer and journalist. He was noted for authoring columns in the

Manhattan Institute
as a senior fellow in 2007.

Early life

Leo was born in

Bergen Record of Hackensack, New Jersey, for three years. He subsequently worked as the editor of the Catholic Messenger,[3] published by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport of Davenport, Iowa, in 1960.[2]

Career

Leo became an associate editor of Commonweal in New York, an independent Catholic magazine, in 1963. In his weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter, titled "Thinking It Over", he pushed hard for free speech and greater openness in the church. In this campaign, he attracted many critics and was disinvited as a speaker several times and banned in the diocese of Allentown.[4] When Daniel Berrigan, a flamboyant anti-Vietnam-war Jesuit, was exiled to Latin America and put under a vow of silence, Leo broke the story in his column.[5] Berrigan was soon brought back home.[6]

The New York Times hired Leo in 1967 as its first reporter to cover the intellectual world.[3] After leaving the Times, he was named an assistant administrator in New York City's Environmental Protection Administration. He returned to journalism and inaugurated the Press Clips column in The Village Voice[7] and served as book editor of the sociological magazine Society.[8] Leo worked at Time from 1974 to 1987,[9] writing the behavior section which covered psychology, psychiatry, feminism and intellectual trends. He also wrote essays and humor, including the Ralph-and-Wanda dialogues between a liberal feminist and her curmudgeonly husband.[2]

From 1988 to 2006, Leo's weekly column for

Time-Warner, terming it America's "leading cultural polluter", sparked the campaign that led to Time-Warner's decision to sell off its 50 percent share in Interscope Records,[11] a heavy producer of gangsta rap.[2]

External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Leo on Two Steps Ahead of the Thought Police, August 28, 1994, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Leo on Incorrect Thoughts, March 19, 2001

Leo served on the board of advisers of the

Southampton College on Long Island. He was a visiting scholar at Ralston College during his later years.[8] Leo wrote that researchers should not worry about the effects of their findings, noting, "You're just supposed to tell your peers what you found. I don't expect academics to fret about these matters", regarding a study showing that diversity decreases the social capital of a community.[12]

Leo's book of humor, How the Russians Invented Baseball and Other Essays of Enlightenment (

ISBN 978-0-7658-0038-1
, 2001).

Personal life

Leo's first marriage was to Stephanie Wolf. Together, they had two children, Kristin and Karen. They eventually divorced. He subsequently married Jacqueline Leo in 1978. She was the former editor-in-chief of The Fiscal Times, Reader's Digest, and other publications, and they remained married until his death. They had one child together named Alex.[2]

Leo died on May 9, 2022, at a hospital in The Bronx at the age of 86. He had Parkinson's disease and was hospitalized for COVID-19 prior to his death. As of May 11, the cause of death has not been determined.[2]

References

  1. ^ "The conservative thinker challenging American universities". The Week. August 2, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Risen, Clay (May 11, 2022). "John Leo, Columnist Who Took Aim at Liberal Pieties, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists
  4. ^ Mclnerney, Rita (June 1, 1966). "Leo talk on 'open Church' shuttered in Allentown". National Catholic Reporter. Vol. 2, no. 31. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  5. ^ Leo, John (December 1, 1965). "The case of Fr. Berrigan". National Catholic Reporter. Vol. 2, no. 6. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  6. JSTOR 44194888. Retrieved May 12, 2022. (registration required
    )
  7. ^ John Leo's Bio at the Manhattan Institute
  8. ^ a b "In Memoriam: John Leo". Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  9. ^ "Time Magazine Masthead: Sep. 19, 1988". TIME Magazine. September 19, 1988. Archived from the original (web.archive.org) on November 26, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  10. ^ "John Leo on US News & World Report". Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  11. ^ Time Bombs, City Journal
  12. ^ Jonas, Michael (August 5, 2007). "The downside of diversity: A Harvard political scientist finds that diversity hurts civic life. What happens when a liberal scholar unearths an inconvenient truth?". The Boston Globe. archive.boston.com. Retrieved May 12, 2022.

External links

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