Former Time managing editor Fuerbringer dies at 97

Fuerbringer died Monday at a nursing home in Fullerton, his son, Jonathan, said by telephone Wednesday.

Fuerbringer held Time's top editorial position for eight years and was the last managing editor hired by the magazine's founder, Henry R. Luce, who died in 1967.

"He was a conservative and hard-driving," his son said.

Under Fuerbringer's direction, the magazine tackled the culture wars of its era with cover stories on the birth control pill, the sexual revolution, and in the April 8, 1966, edition, asked on the cover in bold red letters: "Is God Dead?" The article examined the changing view of the Judeo-Christian god and challenges to the traditional view of a personal deity.

Fuerbringer also broke with Time tradition by hiring well-known artists to produce portraits for the cover. Singer Joan Baez and futurist Buckminster Fuller made the front.

Time had long supported the Vietnam War, but in 1968 Fuerbringer wrote that it could not be won.

Born in St. Louis on Sept. 27, 1910, Fuerbringer attended Harvard University. He worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a decade before Time hired him as a national affairs writer.

He wrote more than 30 cover stories for Time and became managing editor in 1960. During Fuerbringer's tenure, the magazine's circulation rose from 3 million to 5 million.

"He was the ideal editor. Yes, he was tough (and playfully called the 'Iron Chancellor'), but fair-minded, generous to a fault and always open to new ideas," Frederic Golden, who was hired by Fuerbringer, said in an e-mail Wednesday that was cited by Fuerbringer's son.