In Memoriam: Gilbert Harrison and Ray Farkas

Gilbert A. Harrison, 92, former editor and publisher of the New Republic magazine who ran the influential Washington-based weekly for 20 years, died of congestive heart failure Jan. 3 at Hospice of the Valley in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mr. Harrison published an intellectual, liberal but non-doctrinaire journal of opinions, politics and arts that was an early opponent of the Vietnam War. He was considered an excellent “pencil editor” — someone who could mark up and improve a writer’s work — and was also skilled at identifying and hiring talented journalists before they were known commodities.