Calling Hours: 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 pm, Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Funeral Service: 11:00 am, Wednesday, October 1, 2014, The Reformed Church of Bronxville
MACK CARTER, ACCLAIMED EDITOR OF GOOD HOUSEKEEPING AND LEADING WOMEN’S MAGAZINES, HAS DIED AT 86
New York, September 26, 2014 – John Mack Carter, the storied magazine editor whose career brought him fame as the man who headed the nation’s top three women’s magazines, including Good Housekeeping for 20 years, before becoming president of Hearst Magazines Enterprises, died today at his home in Bronxville, NY surrounded by his adoring family after a most courageous and lengthy battle with Parkinson’s Disease. He was 86 years old.
During his six decades in magazines, Carter was the editor who most shaped traditional women’s magazines in the modern pre-feminist era, and then presided over and championed their transformation as the women’s movement took hold in the early 1970’s. Carter, editor in chief of first McCall’s, then the Ladies’ Home Journal and ultimately Good Housekeeping—the top women’s titles of the time—is the only person in publishing history to have headed all three.
In the early 1970’s a group of militant feminists stormed Carter’s office at the Ladies’ Home Journal holding him hostage for 11 hours as they demanded and negotiated changes in the magazine. The event garnered national media attention, and Carter responded by taking the magazine in a direction that reflected women’s changing roles and needs. He remained an advocate for women for the rest of his career, speaking out on issues ranging from equal rights to sexual harassment.
“John Mack spent the better part of his life editing, developing and enriching some of the most influential magazine brands in the country,” said Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO, Hearst Corporation. “He played a role in setting the standard for magazines, from the ethics to editorial content.”
“John Mack Carter was one of the most successful and influential editors of his time,” said William R. Hearst III, chairman of the board, Hearst Corporation. “He was a leader in every aspect of the business and he will be missed by the entire Hearst family.”
A Murray, Kentucky native who attended Murray State University before transferring to the University of Missouri where he earned his master’s in journalism in 1949, Carter retained a lifelong loyalty to his roots, serving as president of the Kentuckians of New York Society in the 1980’s. But the man who Advertising Age once dubbed the “bluegrass evangelist” was the consummate New York media luminary, first working on more than a dozen established magazines and then when he left Good Housekeeping in 1994, helping to conceive and launch new titles for Hearst full time. Known for “multitasking” decades before the term was conceived, during his tenure at Good Housekeeping he concurrently served as the director of Hearst’s magazine development beginning in 1979.
Carter came to Hearst in 1975 from American Home Publishing Company where he was chairman and editor in chief of American Home magazine. “When John Mack took over at Good Housekeeping he faced a formidable challenge of invigorating the magazine without alienating its loyal core readers,” said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., executive vice chairman and former CEO, Hearst Corporation. “His brilliant solution in 1975 is today’s industry standard: put celebrities on the cover. The idea was revolutionary at the time and massive, immediate circulation growth followed. His vision and leadership played an important role in the growth of this company. We will all miss John Mack’s unparalleled passion—and most of all, his friendship.”
Under his leadership at Good Housekeeping from 1975 to 1994, the magazine won two National Magazine Awards in the Personal Service category, in 1989 and 1993. During his career, Carter received numerous industry awards, including the highest honor, the 1989 Henry Johnson Fisher Award from MPA, The Association of Magazine Media, for his lifetime of achievement. In 2000 Carter was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors’ (ASME) Hall of Fame, and honored during the 35th annual presentation of the National Magazine Awards, celebrating his career-long record of excellence, inspiration, creativity and impact as a highly influential magazine journalist. He had served as president of that group from 1990 to 1992 and remained an ex-officio member of the board of directors.
In addition to his editorial and executive duties, Carter contributed a monthly column on the magazine industry to Adweek for nine years. He hosted the cable television program, Good Housekeeping’s Better Way. He also found time to author and co-author a number of books, including 1975’s How to Be Outrageously Successful with Women: A Guide to Surviving the Sexual Revolution, with Lois Wyse, and The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Pregnancy and Baby Care (1990).
Carter’s long list of honors includes the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism award at Ohio University in 1996, celebrating his enduring contributions to journalism. That same year he received the Advertising Women of New York’s Silver Medal Award, adding to his career tributes from women’s groups such as New York Women in Communications and the National Women’s Political Caucus, which in 1985 named him one of the “Good Guys” for his commitment to the goals of full equality for women. A loyal alum of Murray State University, Carter received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the school in 1971.
Carter was fervently involved in non-industry causes, earning the Congressional Families Action for Cancer Awareness Award for his ongoing commitment to cancer awareness. He was the co-founder of the New York City Race for the Cure, an event to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. He also gave his time to the American Cancer Society and the Christian Church Foundation.
While still in high school Carter became a reporter for his hometown newspaper, the Murray Ledger & Times where he continued to contribute until he completed his graduate degree and was offered $50 a week by Better Homes and Gardens as an assistant editor. This was Carter’s initial foray into women’s magazines where he was to carve his legendary niche.
He left Better Homes and Gardens for a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy and served two tours during the Korean War on the minesweeper U.S.S. Toucan before being honorably discharged as a lieutenant. Carter then took a job as managing editor at Household Magazine in Topeka, Kansas before heading to his ultimate destination of New York City to take the helm at American Home Magazine and then McCall’s.
As president of Hearst Magazines Enterprises, a group established in 1994 to develop new magazine ventures both inside and outside of Hearst, Carter continued putting his Midas touch on magazines. He played a pivotal role in the launchings of Country Living, Victoria, SmartMoney and Marie Claire, among other titles during his tenure with Hearst.
As Carter’s feminist consciousness emerged, spurred by the infamous 1970 siege of his Ladies’ Home Journal office by angry women protesters, he saw the future and never looked back. “There was more discrimination than I thought,” he later said. “I didn’t push our women readers far enough in their self-awareness.” In another interview he stated, “Power is the big issue that divides men and women. Men hold power, women want power, but men are reluctant to give it—any of it—away.” His magazines reflected his ever-evolving consciousness, and he became one of the first male members of New York Women in Communications.
Carter’s enduring commitment to changing oppressive social conditions throughout the world brought him political prominence. He served on presidential commissions on human need under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He was honored by President Kennedy when he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Year in 1963 by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1976 he was appointed by President Gerald R. Ford and later re-appointed by President Jimmy Carter to a national commission in observance of the International Women’s Year.
In 1979, Carter testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Human Resources on behalf of equal rights for women and his vision of women’s growing role worldwide. That year he was elected to the executive board of the Business Council for the United Nations’ Office of the Decade for Women. Carter also served on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women and the Coalition to Stop Sexual Harassment. His commission work highlighted the need for more childcare and supported hiring and promoting more women in workplaces, including newsrooms.
The University of Texas established the John Mack Carter Media Scholarship, awarded annually to female graduate students in advertising committed to creating “media that makes a difference.” The American Association of Advertising Agencies also created a scholarship in Carter’s name for women pursuing master’s degrees in media advertising at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In 1977 he was honored as Publisher of the Year by Brandeis University. 1978 saw him named Headliner of the Year by Women in Communications, Inc. He received the University of Missouri’s Missouri Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 1979.
As full as his professional life was, his home life was even more so and his very top priority. A Bronxville, NY resident for 47 years, Carter is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of 66 years, Sharlyn Reaves Carter, his children, Jonna Carter and John Mack Carter II, son-in-law John R. Low, daughter-in-law Victoria Carter and grandchildren John Mack Carter III, Christina Victoria Carter, Kathleen Elizabeth Carter Low and Christopher Ryan Carter Low. He is also survived by twin sister, Carolyn Carter Reagan, brother-in-law Johnny Reagan, nieces Jan Reagan Fuqua and Lyn Reagan Ryan and nephews Danny Grant, David Grant, Dean Grant and Donald Grant.
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