2010 “Citizen of the Year”
May 19, 2010
Richard Stengel is the managing editor of TIME, which has 25 million readers worldwide. He also oversees TIME.com, which draws 7 million unique visitors a month, and TIME’s other brand extensions, including TIME For Kids. He was named TIME’s 16th managing editor on May 17, 2006.
Among his other notable achievements, Stengel collaborated with Nelson Mandela on Mandela’s best-selling 1993 autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and later served as co-producer of the 1996 Oscar-nominated documentary Mandela. He also served as the co-moderator for the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum on September 11, 2008, where he interviewed Senators John McCain and Barack Obama on their views about national service. Additionally, Stengel is a member of the board of trustees of City Year, one of the lead partners of the ServiceNation coalition.
Stengel has a long history with TIME, having served at different times as the magazine’s national and culture editor as well as the editor of TIME.com. As a senior writer and essayist he covered both the 1996 and 1988 Presidential campaigns. Stengel has also written for The New Yorker, The New Republic and the New York Times. In 1998 he taught a course at Princeton called “Politics and the Press” before moving to a very different political arena in 1999 as a senior adviser and chief speechwriter for presidential candidate Bill Bradley.
Most recently, Stengel was President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a museum, education center and think tank on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
In addition to his work on Long Walk to Freedom, Stengel has written several books including the upcoming Mandela’s Way (March, 2010), January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town and You’re Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery. He is also a member of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s Board of Advisors.
Stengel graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1977 and played on its 1975 NIT-winning basketball team. As a Rhodes Scholar he studied English and history at Christ Church College, Oxford. A native New Yorker, Stengel is married to Mary Pfaff. They have two sons.