He was announced as the new editor in chief of George magazine, whose helm has been vacant since the death in July 1999 of the magazine's founder, John F. Kennedy Jr. If Mr. Lalli's tenure at George is as productive as his tour of duty at Money, George could turn into an economic powerhouse.
Mr. Lalli's managing editorship was marked by solid increases in advertising and content aimed at making money for Money's readers, despite stiff new competition from SmartMoney and Worth. He put readers above all, and had a sign to that effect posted on the wall where everyone could see it.
Though replaced by a much younger editor in fall 1997, a shift that led to his eventual departure from Time Inc., this grandson of immigrants (his grandfather sold tomatoes in Brooklyn), never lost sight of the little people's money and how important it was to them.
He extolled talent, promoting Tyler Mathisen, now with CNBC, to executive editor and turning over Your Company magazine (now FSB: Fortune Small Business) to Rich Eisenberg, now with Hearst and described by colleagues there just as he was at Money, as a one-man journalism school.
Mr. Lalli won a caseful of National Magazine Awards, but those mattered less to him than putting out a magazine that offered readers enough information to give them the power of intelligent choice in how to invest and spend money.
"Our arms," he once said, "are wide open to help as many people as we can."
By George, let's see how he applies that in his new assignment.