Iselin, John Jay

John Jay Iselin, descendent of the Supreme Court Justice John Jay, was born in Greenville, South Carolina in 1933. He left South Carolina to pursue his education at Harvard, where he received both his Bachelor's Degree. He received the prestigious Marshall Scholarship which funded his course of study at Cambridge, where he received his Master's Degree before returning to Harvard to pursue his PhD in government, which he received in 1964.

After graduation he worked as a journalist for publications including Newsweek before shifting his focus onto the production side of writing as an editor with Harper & Row in 1970. He only held his editorial position at Harper & Row for two years; in 1972 he took the helm of New York's public television station, WNET/Channel 13 and remained president of the station for 16 years. Under his leadership, WNET produced shows such as Great Performances, Nature and Newshour as well as a number of documentaries and miniseries.

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