Norman Pearlstine

Norman Pearlstine
Norman Pearlstine
Born	October 4, 1942 (age 84); Collegeville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Editor, media executive
Known for	Leadership positions at Los Angeles Times, Time Inc., Bloomberg L.P., Forbes, The Wall Street Journal

Norman Pearlstine (born October 4, 1942) is a prominent American editor and media executive known for his leadership positions at major outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, Time Inc., Bloomberg L.P., Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.

Early life and education

Born into a Jewish family in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Pearlstine is the son of Gladys (née Cohen), who chaired Montgomery County Community College, and Raymond Pearlstine, a practicing attorney. He has two sisters, one of whom is literary agent Maggie Pearlstine Hattersley, married to British politician Roy Hattersley. Pearlstine completed his secondary education at The Hill School before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Haverford College. He later obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania and pursued additional legal studies at Southern Methodist University’s law school.

Career

Pearlstine’s tenure at the Wall Street Journal spanned from 1968 until 1992, with the exception of a period between 1978 and 1980 when he served as executive editor at Forbes magazine. His roles at the Journal included staff reporter assignments across Dallas, Detroit, and Los Angeles (1968–73), Tokyo bureau chief (1973–76), managing editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal (1976–78), national editor (1980–81), editor and publisher of The Wall Street Journal/Europe (1982–83), managing editor (1983–91), and executive editor (1991–92).

Between 1992 and 1994, he acted as interim president of the New-York Historical Society.

Following his departure from the Wall Street Journal, Pearlstine founded SmartMoney and became a general partner at Friday Holdings, a multimedia investment company whose partners included Richard Rainwater, Barry Diller, and Martin S. Davis. In 1995, he was appointed as the first external editor in chief at Time Inc., holding this position from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2005.

He also advised the telecommunications and media division of the Carlyle Group in New York. In June 2008, Pearlstine joined Bloomberg L.P. as chief content officer, overseeing the expansion of Bloomberg’s offerings across television, radio, magazines, and digital platforms. He chaired Bloomberg Businessweek after its acquisition from McGraw-Hill in 2009 and co-chaired Bloomberg Government, a subscription service focused on government influence on business.

In October 2013, Pearlstine returned to Time Inc. to serve as chief content officer until his retirement in July 2017.

On June 18, 2018, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong appointed him as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times. He resigned from this position in October 2020.

Personal

Pearlstine has been married four times. While attending college, he wed Charlene Pearlstine; their marriage ended during his law school years. In 1973, he married Adele Wilson, a teacher. His third marriage was to Nancy Friday in 1988; they divorced in 2005. That same year, he married Jane Boon, an industrial engineer who authored the novels Edge Play and Bold Strokes.

Recognition

In January 2005, Pearlstine received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors and was inducted into their Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame. He earned the Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in 2000 and was honored with the National Press Foundation's Editor of the Year Award in 1989.

The Poynter Institute awarded him the Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism in 2019.

His board memberships have included roles with the Tribeca Film Institute, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Committee to Protect Journalists. He co-chaired the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where he remains affiliated. Additionally, he serves on advisory boards such as that of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York and is a board member of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Pearlstine is also affiliated with the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2006 to 2011, he held the position of president and CEO at the American Academy in Berlin.

Pearlstine became involved in controversy when he handed over journalist Matthew Cooper’s notes to an independent prosecutor investigating the exposure of CIA operative Valerie Plame. He recounted this episode in his book Off the Record: The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources.

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