Crow, Elizabeth (Venture Smith) 1946–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 29, 1946, in New York, NY; died of complications from esophageal cancer April 4, 2005, in New York, NY. Editor and author. Crow was a magazine editor who helped revitalize such magazines as Parents. Graduating from Mills College with a B.A. in 1968, she found work as an editor for New York magazine and attended graduate school at Brown University briefly. Crow joined Parents in 1978 as the magazine's editor-in-chief, and while there redesigned the look and contents of the publication. Along with a substantially improved circulation, the magazine won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence during the last year of her watch. In concert with this redesign, she started a series of child development books and videos in association with Parents. This creativity was carried on with her next position as editor-in-chief of Self magazine in 1988. She soon returned to work for the publisher of Parents, Bertelsmann A.G., where she headed several magazines, including Child and Parenting, and launched several more, including three Spanish-language periodicals, Babycare, and the online YM. In 1993, she moved on to head the now-defunct Mademoiselle, and in 2001 was hired by the publisher Rodale to be its vice president and editorial director of its women's health group. More recently, in 2002, she was made editorial director for the consumer magazine and media group of Primedia, and in 2004 she became editorial director of Consumers Union.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, April 6, 2005, p. C20.

ONLINE

Mediaweek.com, http://www.mediaweek.com/ (April 5, 2005).