UC Berkeley lecturer and New York Editor dies at 82

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 1, 2008 | by Paul David Lampe

Clay Felker, a lecturer at the UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and pioneer in an era of new journalism in the 1960s, died Tuesday after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 82.

"He was always trying to be ahead of the curve in terms of trends," said Tom Goldstein, a professor of journalism and mass communications at UC Berkeley and director of the mass communications program.

Felker joined the faculty as a lecturer in 1994. A year later, the Graduate School of Journalism founded the endowed Felker Magazine Center.

Goldstein said Felker's enthusiasm to be ahead of the curve was emblematic of how he shaped UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. Felker wanted students to have a hands-on experience with journalism.

"For a long time, journalism students did practice stories, and Clay really pushed the idea that students were good enough that the world should see their work," Goldstein said.

"I still hear his voice in my head; he is still my editor in a way," said Lauren Barack, a UC Berkeley journalism graduate in 1996 and freelance writer. "He really gave me incredible tools on how to be the best writer I could be."

Although Felker loved the West Coast and California, his journalism roots were in New York.

Felker started as a sports and politics reporter for Life magazine in 1951. Between 1957 and 1962, he was the features editor of Esquire magazine.

But in 1964, Felker made his big splash as editor of New York magazine, originally the Sunday magazine for the New York Herald Tribune. The newspaper folded in 1967, but Felker used his severance and was able to get more than $1 million in financing to reformat the New York magazine as its own publication.

The publication was relaunched April 8, 1968, but Felker had to work to find the right formula to gain mass appeal.

Pieces in New York included in-depth articles and lighter features; among the staff were writers Tom Wolfe, Nora Ephron and Gloria Steinem.

In the mid '70s, Felker bought the Village Voice and launched New West. Originally, Felker invited media giant Rupert Murdoch to invest in New York magazine, but Murdoch wanted all three publications. Murdoch outbid Felker, purchasing New York, and soon afterward New West and Village Voice were part of the Murdoch empire.

Felker worked as a consultant at Twentieth Century Fox and an editor during the 1980s at Adweek magazine and Manhattan Inc.

Said Goldstein: "I was wondering if it was going to work to have Felker as a lecturer, because the rewards of teaching are different than the rewards of editing."

But even as Felker made the transition from editor to educator, his tools from the trade fit the academic bill. Felker was an icon in the era of New Journalism as he encouraged journalists to write with passion. That passion was important to students like Barack.

"His way of teaching really was about writing with passion and writing with a point of view," Barack said.

Felker is survived by his wife, Gail Sheehy, of New York; daughter Mohm Sheehy of Cambridge, Mass.; step-daughter Maura Sheehy Moss of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and sister Charlotte Gallagher.

Funeral services are pending. The Graduate School of Journalism is planning a memorial program for the fall semester.

Wire services contributed to this report. Reach Paul David Lampe at plampe@bayareanewsgroup.com or 510-208-6406.