[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4008-S4009]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MARVIN STONE

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President. U.S. News and World Report, in 
speaking of the death of Marvin Stone, spoke of one man's ``superior 
contribution''.
  Marvin Stone contributed more than should be expected of someone who 
had had a dozen life times and far more than anyone could have expected 
in a span of seventy-six years.
  Marvin Stone, born in Burlington, VT, served in the Pacific in World 
War II and then went on to become one of the most respected journalists 
in America.
  My wife, Marcelle, and I have been privileged to know Marvin and his 
wonderful wife, Terry. I think with fondness not only of times together 
with them, Marvin's sister, Marilyn Greenfield, and the many friends in 
Burlington, but also evenings with those far reaching conversations at 
their home in the Washington area.
  Marvin took the time to call me when I was a brand new Senator, even 
though he probably was at first curious about the oddity of a Democrat 
from Vermont. We became close friends and throughout two decades I 
called upon him for advice and insight. I knew the advice would come, 
never tinged with partisanship but underlined with a great sense of 
history and his overwhelming integrity.
  I can only imagine the void this leaves in the life of Terry, his 
wife of fifty years, of Jamie and Stacey and Torren and all his family. 
He also leaves a great void in our country.

[[Page S4009]]

Marvin's legacy, though, is also one of example, and those, especially 
in the field of journalism, who follow that example, can also seek the 
respect and the honor that he earned.
  I ask that the US News World Report article be printed in the Record 
as well as the obituary in the Washington Post.

           [From the U.S. News & World Report, May 15, 2000]

                  One Man's ``Superior Contribution''

       Journalist Marvin L. Stone, who died of cancer last week at 
     76, played a transforming role a generation ago as the editor 
     of U.S. News & World Report.
       In his decade of leadership, from 1976 to 1985, Stone was 
     responsible for U.S. New's editorial shift toward the center 
     from the more conservative views held by its founder, David 
     Lawrence. Stone expanded the magazine's coverage beyond its 
     traditional emphasis on politics and business to include 
     social, cultural, and educational issues. He introduced four-
     color photography and changed the character of the editorial 
     staff by recruiting younger journalists, women, and minority 
     reporters. ``Ours is a magazine devoted to a singular ideal: 
     to report, clarify, interpret, and project the news--to put 
     people and events in perspective as objectively as humanly 
     possible,'' Stone once told a national convention of Sigma 
     Delta Chi, the journalism society, ``Put another way: to 
     provide information people can rely on, find useful, can act 
     upon.''
       Born and raised in Vermont, Stone served in World War II as 
     an attack boat officer in the Pacific. He began his 40-year 
     journalism career as a police reporter for the Huntington 
     (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. As an International News Service 
     correspondent based in Tokyo, Vienna, Paris, and London, he 
     covered the Korean War and the French Indochina War and broke 
     the news that the Soviet Union had developed a hydrogen bomb.
       To the moon. In 1961, a year after he joined U.S. News, 
     Stone covered the construction of the Berlin Wall. Later in 
     the 1960's, he reported on topics as varied as coal mining in 
     Kentucky and space shots to the moon. He authored the 
     Doubleday Science Series book Man in Space.
       When Mortimer B. Zuckerman bought U.S. News in 1984, Stone 
     was holding two positions, editor of the magazine and 
     chairman of its parent company. After what we termed six 
     ``amicable'' months with Zuckerman, he resigned to become 
     deputy director of the United States Information Agency, a 
     position he held for four years. From 1989 to 1995, he was 
     the founding president and chairman of the International 
     Media Fund, an organization that encouraged a free press in 
     Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
       Zuckerman, chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News, said, 
     ``Marvin Stone was one of the giants of post-World War II 
     journalism. His talent as a reporter and an editor brought 
     him one of the great positions of journalism as the editor of 
     U.S. News & World Report. He extended his career by 
     outstanding service in the public arena. He was a great 
     friend and a great colleague. He shall be missed by all who 
     benefited from his wisdom and insight.''
       In 1985, Ronald Reagan hailed Stone's 25 years with U.S. 
     News as a ``superior contribution'' to American journalism. 
     Said the president: ``You helped make the world's events and 
     our challenges just a little more understandable.''

                [From the Washington Post, May 3, 2000]

              Marvin L. Stone Dies at 76; U.S. News Editor

       Marvin L. Stone, 76, who covered definitive Cold War 
     moments such as the fall of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam and the 
     rise of the Berlin Wall before he took the top editing job at 
     U.S. News & World Report in 1976 and became deputy director 
     of the U.S. Information Agency in 1986, died of cancer May 1 
     at his home in Falls Church.
       Mr. Stone joined the weekly news magazine in 1960 and 
     advanced to executive editor in 1973. He became the 
     equivalent of editor in chief in 1976, and over the next nine 
     years, he propelled the magazine away from some of its 
     conservative editorial positions and added cultural features 
     and colorful layouts. He resigned in 1985, shortly after 
     Mortimer B. Zuckerman purchased the publication.
       Among the changes Mr. Stone oversaw during his years at the 
     magazine were the addition of full-color photographs and 
     service stories about medical, scientific and social trends. 
     Mr. Stone, who considered himself conservative, told The 
     Washington Post in 1982 that he viewed his impact less as a 
     ``revolution'' than an ``evolution.''
       Mr. Stone was deputy director of the U.S. Information 
     Agency from 1985 to 1989, followed by six years as president 
     and chairman of the International Media Fund, a Washington-
     based, government-funded organization encouraging a free 
     press in Eastern Europe. After the fund went defunct in 1995, 
     he spent the next year in Europe on a Knight Foundation 
     journalism fellowship before retiring.
       Marvin Lawrence Stone was born in Burlington, Vt., and 
     served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He 
     graduated from Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., and 
     received a master's degree in journalism from Columbia 
     University.
       He was a police reporter in Huntington before joining the 
     old International News Service wire agency in the 1950s, 
     where his assignments included the Korean War.
       Mr. Stone was named to the Sigma Delta Chi journalism 
     society's Journalism Hall of Fame in 1990. He was a past 
     adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International 
     Studies. His memberships included Temple Rodef Shalom in 
     Falls Church, the Cosmos Club and the Military Order of the 
     Caribao.
       He was the author of ``Man in Space,'' a 1974 booklet that 
     was part of a Doubleday science series.
       Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Sydell ``Terry'' 
     Stone of Falls Church; two daughters, Jamie Faith Stone of 
     Falls Church and Stacey Hope Goodrich of West Melbourne, 
     Fla.; a son, Torren M. Stone of Falls Church; a sister; and 
     three grandchildren.

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