I just lost another friend – Bob Stein the former editor of Redbook and McCalls Magazines. More important to me than these august jobs, he was a member of our floating poker club in New York in the 1950′s. The members were photographers Feingersh , Winogrand & Zimbel , the art director Alvin Grossman & the photo editor Sari  Grossman. Bob always won, he was so good at everything. Noone ever got mad .

The  last time we saw him was at the PBS party for the release of their Marilyn Monroe show.  A guy came up behind me and  whispered “It’s Bob”. I turned , recognized him, started crying and kissed him on the forehead in that order.  We had communicated by email, but I hadn’t seen him for a very long time.

The mark of Bob’s editorship  was an understanding of the important issues facing so called ordinary people. He realized that there are NO “ordinary people”. With this he transformed Redbook and McCalls and influenced all of the women’s magazines. Among the homemaker and fashion pieces he published serious articles about women’s issues and family issues.

I learned from his assignments that an “ordinary” subject could lead to seriously interesting  photographs . He did not always agree with my choice but he explained why. He had his vision. He went by it.

To me, he was a great friend, a constant friend, and so, another missing friend.

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