The New York Times to Run Final Op-Ed Column by William Safire

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2004--William Safire will publish his final column as a New York Times Op-Ed columnist on January 24, 2005.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr, publisher of The New York Times, said, "The New York Times without Bill Safire is all but unimaginable. Bill's provocative and insightful commentary has held our readers captive since he first graced our Op-Ed Page in 1973. Reaching for his column became a critical and enjoyable part of the day for our readers across the country and around the world. Whether you agreed with him or not was never the point. His writing is delightful, informed and engaging. So, too, is the man, who in addition to being a world-class columnist has been a world-class friend and colleague to a generation of Times men and women."

“After more than three decades of opinionated reporting on the world's first and foremost political battle page, it's time to hang up my hatchet”

Mr. Safire, 74, will continue to write his Sunday column, "On Language," which has appeared in The New York Times Magazine since 1979 and has led to the publication of 15 books, making him one of the most widely read writers on the English language. He is also the author of 10 other works of fiction and nonfiction and editor of five anthologies. No successor to Mr. Safire as an Op-Ed columnist has been chosen at this time.

"After more than three decades of opinionated reporting on the world's first and foremost political battle page, it's time to hang up my hatchet," said Mr. Safire. "The Times said at the start of this run that it wanted 'another point of view,' which was what it surely got, and its editors did not wince nor cry aloud. In my more scholarly persona, I couldn't resist continuing as Sunday language maven, so although Mr. Hyde will close up shop, Dr. Jekyll will carry on."

In 1978, Mr. Safire was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. Before joining The Times in 1973 as a political columnist, Mr. Safire was a senior White House speechwriter for President Nixon. He had previously been a radio and television producer and a U.S. Army correspondent. He began his career in 1949 as a reporter for a profiles column in The New York Herald Tribune.

From 1955 to 1960, Mr. Safire was vice president of a public relations firm in New York City and then became president of his own firm. He was responsible for bringing Mr. Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev together in the 1959 Moscow "kitchen debate" to publicize his homebuilding client's kitchen. In 1968, he left to join the campaign of Richard Nixon.

Mr. Safire attended Syracuse University, dropped out after two years, returned twice later to deliver commencement addresses, and is now a trustee. He served as a member of the Pulitzer Board from 1995 to 2004. Since 1993, he has been active with the Dana Foundation, a philanthropy supporting brain science, immunology, and arts education. He is currently its chairman and will make this his principal occupation.

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