The Managing Editor of TIME is normally encouraged to pass his pencil over this column on its way to press. But this week he was not invited--for the quite special reason that the column is largely about him.

Henry Anatole Grunwald, 54, became Managing Editor of TIME in 1968, the seventh M.E. since the newsmagazine's launching in 1923. He began his career with TIME in 1944 as a part-time copy boy and in 1951, at the age of 28, became the youngest senior editor in the magazine's history--a record that still holds. This week Grunwald leaves the magazine to become one of the two Corporate Editors of Time Inc. Announcing the appointment, Editor-in-Chief Hedley Donovan praised Grunwald's Grunwald "highly creative editorship," under which "TIME'S staff has brought that magazine to a level of excellence that all of us can be proud of."

If it is difficult for me to describe the contribution that this perceptive and literate man has brought to TIME--indeed to journalism--perhaps some examples will help. Grunwald was responsible for launching several new TIME sections: Environment, Behavior, The Sexes. He also edited our special issues on Blacks, Women, Leadership and The New South. His two Bicentennial issues of TIME will long be remembered as a journalistic tour de force. Under his leadership, TIME won many awards for editorial excellence.

After taking up his duties as the new Managing Editor, Grunwald initiated his own new typographic format for TIME.

It is interesting to note that one of his last accomplishments before leaving was to oversee the conversion to our current look --marked by both the greatly expanded use of editorial color and a completely redesigned format.

I personally will miss the experience of watching Henry in action and seeing his extraordinary instinct for putting together, issue after issue, the rich editorial mixture that TIME'S readers have come to expect.

Happily, we will not be entirely deprived of his wisdom. In his new duties, Grunwald will be involved in the editorial affairs of all Time Inc. publications, so TIME will continue to benefit from his keen journalistic eye.

The new Managing Editor of TIME is Ray Cave. After 17 years of writing and editing at SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and a stint as Acting Editorial Director of all Time Inc. publications, Cave, 48, joined TIME in 1976 as an Assistant Managing Editor. Says Editor-in-Chief Donovan: "Cave is an editor of great enterprise and imagination, and I am confident that he will continue TIME in its lively and informative ways."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.