--- title: Remembering Former TIME Editor Ray Cave description: Cave had a keen sense of design, an astute sense of how best to use color photography and a sharp eye for writing talent, recalls Jim Kelly. canonical: https://time.com/5883033/ray-cave-remembrance/ author: Jim Kelly article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-08-24T19:59:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:09:01.536Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Remembering Former TIME Editor Ray Cave og:description: Cave had a keen sense of design, an astute sense of how best to use color photography and a sharp eye for writing talent og:url: https://time.com/5883033/ray-cave-remembrance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1586a9ee3752537/698a11a9011682bc0c97fc47/ray-cave.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3072 og:image:height: 1728 og:image:alt: Ray Cave og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Remembering Former TIME Editor Ray Cave twitter:description: Cave had a keen sense of design, an astute sense of how best to use color photography and a sharp eye for writing talent twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1586a9ee3752537/698a11a9011682bc0c97fc47/ray-cave.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Remembering Ray Cave, TIME Editor With 'Sharp Eye for Writing Talent' > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=0bed22d2-a73a-4032-af69-e7b69310013d&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Jim Kelly](https://time.com/author/jim-kelly/) ## Jim Kelly Aug 24, 2020 7:59 PM UTC  TIME magazine editor Ray Cave (L) examining cover ideas with other editors in 1983 TIME magazine editor Ray Cave (L) examining cover ideas with other editors in 1983 Henry Groskinsky—The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images by [Jim Kelly](https://time.com/author/jim-kelly/) ## Jim Kelly Aug 24, 2020 7:59 PM UTC When Ray Cave arrived at TIME as an assistant managing editor in 1976 after a storied career at _Sports Illustrated_, no one suspected that he would beat out other longtime editors for TIME’s top job just one year later. But what Cave, who [died](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/business/media/ray-cave-dead.html) at 91 on Aug. 17, brought to the magazine—a keen sense of design, an astute sense of how best to use color photography, and a sharp eye for writing talent—allowed him to prevail. Cave did not have the interest in some of the weightier topics that distinguished TIME in earlier years, such as its famed “Is God Dead?” cover story, and more than a few eyes rolled when he put cats ([“Love ‘Em! Hate Em!”](https://time.com/vault/issue/1981-12-07/page/1/)) and ice cream [(“Getting Your Licks”](https://time.com/vault/issue/1981-08-10/page/1/)) on the cover. (Eyes stopped rolling when both broke the newsstand). What Cave should be best remembered for is his dedication to ensuring that TIME covered major breaking news with full force, for bringing a clean and vibrant look to the newsweekly, and making sure freshly hired writers—including Kurt Andersen, Graydon Carter, Maureen Dowd, Michiko Kakutani, Walter Isaacson, Pico Iyer, Frank Rich, Roger Rosenblatt, Stephen Smith, Alessandra Stanley, Richard Stengel and Evan Thomas—all felt at home at TIME. Like all good editors, Cave was intensely curious; unlike many editors, he preferred to celebrate accomplishment rather than trends as worthy of coverage. What other editor of a national magazine would put the [Broadway production of _Nicholas Nickleby_](https://time.com/vault/issue/1981-10-05/page/1/) on its cover? He displayed a social consciousness without resorting to preachiness, as evidenced by [“Children of War.”](https://time.com/vault/issue/1982-01-11/page/1/) And midway through his career he put [“The Poisoning of America”](https://time.com/vault/issue/1980-09-22/page/1/) on the cover, illustrated by a man sinking into a cesspool of toxic waste. Several years later, just before his tenure ended, Cave revisited the topic and cover, this time with the poisoned waters [lapping a bit higher](https://time.com/vault/issue/1985-10-14/page/1/). Times change, the ways of telling stories change, but what Cave brought to TIME—authoritative writing, critical thinking and a bone-deep sense of fair play—remain as essential to a democratic society today as they did nearly four decades ago. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5883033/ray-cave-remembrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5883033/ray-cave-remembrance/"},"headline":"Remembering Ray Cave, TIME Editor With 'Sharp Eye for Writing Talent'","datePublished":"2020-08-24T19:59:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:09:01.536Z","description":"Cave had a keen sense of design, an astute sense of how best to use color photography and a sharp eye for writing talent","url":"https://time.com/5883033/ray-cave-remembrance/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1586a9ee3752537/698a11a9011682bc0c97fc47/ray-cave.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jim Kelly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jim-kelly/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1586a9ee3752537/698a11a9011682bc0c97fc47/ray-cave.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ray Cave","caption":"Ray Cave","creditText":"Henry Groskinsky—The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5883033/ray-cave-remembrance/","name":"Remembering Ray Cave, TIME Editor With 'Sharp Eye for Writing Talent'"}}]}] ```