Key Facts
Career & Education
About
Joseph Salem Lelyveld (1937-2024) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author renowned for his foreign correspondence and editorial leadership. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he graduated from Harvard University and began his career at The New York Times in 1962. Lelyveld reported from international bureaus including Hong Kong, India, and South Africa, earning the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1986 for his book 'Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White,' which chronicled apartheid. He later authored 'Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India' (2011), which stirred controversy for alleging Gandhi's romantic relationship with his German-Jewish assistant Hermann Kallenbach, though these claims were disputed by some scholars. Advancing through the ranks at The New York Times, he served as foreign editor, metropolitan editor, and deputy executive editor before becoming executive editor from 1994 to 2001 and interim executive editor in 2003 following Howell Raines' resignation. He contributed to the New York Review of Books and was known for his commitment to rigorous journalism. Lelyveld died on January 5, 2024, in Manhattan, New York City, at age 86.