Charlotte Curtis, 1928-1987

Charlotte Murray Curtis, daughter of George Morris and Lucile (Atcherson) Curtis, was born on December 19, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in Columbus, Ohio. She graduated from the Columbus School for Girls in 1946 and received her B.A. from Vassar College in 1950. She married Dwight Fullerton in 1950; they divorced in 1952. In 1972, she married William E. Hunt, a surgeon from Columbus.

Curtis was a reporter and society editor for the Columbus Citizen (later the Columbus Citizen-Journal ) from 1950 to 1961. In 1961, she joined the New York Times where she was a reporter (1961-1987), women's news editor (1965-1972), family style editor (1972-1974), editor of the Op-Ed page (1974-1982), associate editor (1974-1987), and weekly columnist (1982-1987). She was the first woman to attain the rank of associate editor of the New York Times . She also wrote articles on a freelance basis for several publications, including Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and Ladies' Home Journal . In addition, she was a radio commentator for WMNI in Columbus and WQXR in New York City. She was the author of two books, First Lady (1962), about Jacqueline Kennedy, and The Rich and Other Atrocities (1976).

Curtis died of cancer on April 16, 1987, in Columbus, Ohio.

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; see the papers of Curtis' mother, Lucile Atcherson Curtis (MC 600) . Additional biographical information can be found in A Woman of the Times, by Marilyn S. Greenwald.

From the guide to the Papers of Charlotte Curtis, (inclusive), (bulk), 1928-1987, 1950-1981, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)