Peretz, Martin H., 1938-

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1938-12-06

Biographical notes:

Martin H. Peretz (/pəˈrɛts/; born December 6, 1938) is a former American magazine publisher and educator. Formerly an assistant professor at Harvard University, he purchased The New Republic in 1974 and assumed editorial control shortly afterwards. He founded the financial news website TheStreet.com in 1996 with personality and hedge fund manager Jim Cramer. Peretz is known for his strong support of Israel as well as his approval of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. He retained majority ownership of The New Republic until 2002, when he sold a two-thirds stake in the magazine to two financiers. Peretz sold the remainder of his ownership rights in 2007 to CanWest Global Communications, though he retained his position as editor-in-chief. In March 2009, Peretz repurchased the magazine with a group of investors led by ex-Lazard executive Laurence Grafstein. In late 2010, Peretz gave up his title of editor-in-chief at The New Republic, becoming instead editor emeritus, and terminated his blog The Spine, after other editors and writers at the magazine said they found it offensive and that Peretz would not have had the opportunity to write it if not for the fact that he had been owner of the magazine. He no longer has any association with the magazine.

Peretz graduated from the Bronx High School of Science at age 15. He received his BA degree from Brandeis University in 1959, and MA and also a PhD from Harvard University in Government, then going on to lecture in Harvard's Social Studies program.

Peretz was married briefly in his twenties to Linda Heller, the daughter of prominent citrus growers who lived on Fifth Avenue, and in Miami Beach. The pair had met in Boston. The ceremony took place at the Plaza Hotel. They separated shortly thereafter.

From 1967 to 2009, Peretz was married to Anne Devereux (Labouisse) Farnsworth Peretz, daughter of Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr. and an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine Company fortune. Together they helped finance Ramparts magazine in the 1960s, until it published articles critical of Israeli policy, whereupon Peretz withdrew his own support and that of his wife. In 1974, Peretz purchased The New Republic from Gilbert Harrison with funds of $380,000 supplied by his wife.

The couple divorced in 2009, his wife citing multiple infidelities and an "explosive temper" as problems in the marriage. Peretz is the father of the director Jesse Peretz and the writer Evgenia Peretz. Peretz is a long-time friend, former teacher, and political supporter of former US Vice President Al Gore.