James W. Michaels
News Organizations and Titles: 45 years at Forbes--group vice president, Forbes Inc., January 1999-present; editor, 1961-99; managing editor, 1957-61; associate managing editor, 1954-56; bureau chief, New Delhi, United Press, late 1940s; reporter for The Buffalo Evening News.
Legacy: He edited more than 1,000 issues during his 38-year term, one of the longest tenures of any editor in history. He knew what he wanted in writers. Mr. Michaels told a job applicant: "I want writers who get excited about disposable diapers."
Journalistic Progeny: Mr. Michaels can count in the hundreds the number of current and former Forbes staffers who honed their skills under his editorship.
Personal: Born June 17, 1921, in Buffalo, N.Y.
Family: Wife, Jean Briggs, an editor, and three children by a previous marriage.
Awards: Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award, 1994; Editor of the Year, Ad Week, 1983.
Education:Harvard College, cum laude, economics, 1942.
What he has said about himself or his publication: About Fortune Managing Editor John W. Huey Jr.'s quote that Mr. Michaels has pinned to the wall of his office, "Forbes: They're Nasty, Venal People": "He said that about us once, and I just thought it was terrific." Comments during a speech in April 1999 called "The Supremacy of Economics Over Politics": "Everyone wants to hear about that day-trader who made a few thousand dollars in just a few hours. You put out a magazine with a cover story that says 'Be careful, the stock market is dangerous,' and no one will buy the darn thing."
What others have said about him: Malcolm Forbes to Steve Forbes: "Jim Michaels is a genius. I trust him." Richard Behar, formerly with Forbes, said in a New York Times article: "It was always said that Michaels could edit the Lord's prayer down to six words and nobody would miss anything."
Steve Forbes in Forbes upon Mr. Michaels taking his new vice president position: "Jim is an amazing combination of integrity, tenacity, energy, courage, curiosity, brains and shrewd judgment. He made this magazine the drama critic of business, routinely praising or panning corporate management."Home run stories or accomplishments: Mr. Michaels pioneered the grading of mutual funds and worked with Malcolm Forbes to launch the Forbes 400 annual ranking of the richest Americans. Years earlier, while with United Press, he wrote the first wire story on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, and his dispatches on Mr. Gandhi's death have been reprinted in the anthology, "A Treasury of Great Reporting."