Bill Slate

Bill’s post-Weequahic Odyssey took him first to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in those years a hotbed of student radicalism and unrest. While at college, Bill somehow managed not only to earn a degree in history, but also, miraculously, to avoid having his head cracked open by ferocious local police at countless antiwar rallies. He enjoyed a brief respite from all that madness as a junior-year history exchange student at the University of Warwick in England. After graduation, Bill sought refuge in Manhattan’s Upper West Side and began working in the magazine and book-publishing industries. In his youthful zeal, he also edited and had published at that time an anthology of left-wing political essays --“Power to the People.” Bill moved on to graduate studies in history at the London School of Economics, but soon cast aside any thoughts of an academic career in order to pursue his long love affair with the classical guitar. To that end, he lived in London for a year studying music with composer John Duarte (Bill remains an avid player to this day, and his solo guitar arrangement of “The Theme from Schindler’s List” was published recently by Warner Bros. Music).

Returning to New York at the height of the Watergate mess, Bill was hired by Newsweek Magazine – which was to remain his corporate home for the next 28 years, until he took early retirement in 2002. He held a number of positions at Newsweek, the last being associate editor in the Business Department. His most difficult day on the job: arriving for work on 9/11 – and coping with the awful human drama that ensued. Most fun assignment: spending a raucous evening (and getting drunk) with comedian Redd Foxx in his suite at the Waldorf for a big Newsweek interview and profile. Bill feels privileged and honored to have spent the bulk of his working life among incredibly talented journalists who toiled hard each week turning out “the first rough draft of history.” (Yes, he knows that’s The New York Times, but those at Newsweek felt the same way about their product!)

Bill lives with his second wife Alison in the seaside community of Rowayton, Connecticut. He has two daughters from a previous marriage – Stephanie, a junior at Brandeis with med school aspirations, and Anna, a high-school sophomore who’d love to be a star on Broadway someday. In addition to traveling abroad with his wife (favorite destinations: the Norwegian fjords, the west coast of Ireland, and the Azores) and making music, Bill’s early retirement has given him more time to pursue his other great passion: sailing and restoring his vintage offshore sloop “Sundance Kid,” which under previous owners had completed two world circumnavigations. If Bill can ever coax Alison into early retirement from New York’s fashion industry, he’d like nothing better than to hang up his snow shovel for good and spend winters with her, sailing “Sundance” in the Caribbean. How does he like retirement so far? Says Bill: “Someone had to be first – and I’m damn glad it was me.”

E-mail address: bslate@optonline.net