In the 41 years since the first issue of TIME appeared, the masthead --that list of staff members on this page--has seen many changes. One of the most important of all is made in this issue.

Henry R. Luce who, with the late Briton Hadden, conceived and founded TIME and guided it to become Time Inc., with magazines having a circulation of 13 million around the world, last week announced his resignation as editor-in-chief. His successor is Hedley Donovan, 49, who has been editorial director since 1959.

"There are many good reasons for this change of command," Luce said in his memo to the staff. "The best and sufficient reason is that Hedley Donovan is highly qualified to be editor-in-chief."

Donovan has been showing his qualifications on one or more Time Inc. magazines for 19 years. Born in Brainerd, Minn., the son of a mining engineer, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1934 and continued his study of history at Oxford (Hertford College) as a Rhodes Scholar. He was a reporter on the Washington Post for five years before serving as an intelligence officer in the Navy during World War II.

In 1945 he was hired as a writer on FORTUNE, with a recommendation that bore an executive's comment that "taking him on the staff at an intermediate level on a three-to-six-months' trial basis would be a very good gamble." He became FORTUNE'S associate managing editor in 1951, managing editor in 1953, and six years later moved up to editorial director of all Time Inc. publications, serving as deputy to the editor-in-chief. In that capacity he sat in as acting managing editor of TIME, LIFE and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and, in greater or lesser degree, supervised all other editorial activities of the company. Last year he set in motion a new Research and Development division.

To his colleagues in the Time & Life Building and at Time Inc. offices around the world, the choice of Donovan as editor-in-chief came as no surprise. In his staff memo, Henry Luce recalled that when he appointed Donovan editorial director he thought it "a brilliant stroke all my own." But the first Time Inc. executive he met that day said matter-of-factly: "It was obvious--inevitable." So was last week's appointment. As his predecessor said: "Donovan has earned the professional respect and the personal confidence of all who have worked with him."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.