Longtime readers of TIME, or before that Newsweek or the Economist, will remember the wise, sharp, surprising voice of our former international editor Michael Elliott, who died on July 14 at 65 after battling cancer. Michael was one of the few people I’ve known who deserved the description “larger than life.” He lived life large, buoyantly, delightedly chasing the next big idea, spotting the next great talent and inviting us all to his table to listen and learn. He was a mentor to generations of journalists and a model to all of us as editors. There was nothing and no one that did not interest him, no place he hadn’t been without bringing back a “ripping yarn.”
Two nights before he died, he was honored by the ONE Campaign, the global development organization co-founded by U2 lead singer Bono. Michael had served as CEO since 2011. It was like Michael to embark on a new adventure as he turned 60, especially one committed to helping the least fortunate among us. Born in Liverpool to parents who, he observed, seldom traveled more than four miles from home, he became a true man of the world, living for years in Asia and happily adopting the U.S. as home but remaining a fierce defender of a united Europe and the power of globalism to improve lives. He wanted to make things better: as an editor, to make journalism better, and as an activist, to make lives better. “Mike loved his life, lived it boldly and wanted the rest of the world to have that same experience of it,” said Bono. “Above all else, he wanted his life to be useful. If you were around him, that’s what he demanded of you.”
Nancy Gibbs, EDITOR
A NEW VIEW OF 1968
As the Democratic Party convenes in Philadelphia to officially name its nominee for President, LIFE unveils a series of photos that were taken for the magazine’s coverage of the infamous 1968 convention in Chicago but never made it to print–like this image of protesters confronting authorities in Lincoln Park. The tensions between police and demonstrators led LIFE to dub the event the “Democratic Convulsion.” View the gallery at life.com
MODEL MEALS
Instagram is full of appetizing food photographs, so how can you make yours stand out? In a new TIME video, Instagram influencer Patrick Janelle shares the tricks that helped him grow his audience to more than 450,000 followers. Watch it on lightbox.time.com
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This appears in the August 01, 2016 issue of TIME.
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- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
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