Mr. Leibovitz recalled that once, seeing that Time Inc.’s Money magazine was performing poorly, Ms. Bonniwell proposed a new content strategy. Instead of publishing a mix of miscellaneous articles, she suggested that each issue of the magazine focus on a different theme. Her suggestion was adopted, and readership soared.
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Ms. Bonniwell’s efforts to put Life back on a weekly publication schedule for the first time in a decade were driven by “amazing intellectual and political brilliance on her part,” said Jim Gaines, who was managing editor of the magazine at the time and later succeeded Ms. Bonniwell as publisher.
She made a compelling business case for producing more issues and very likely would have succeeded, Mr. Gaines said, if not for external market pressures and concerns that a weekly Life could cannibalize readership from other Time publications.
Katherine Marbury Bonniwell was born in Manhattan on May 29, 1947, to Lucy and John Bonniwell. Her family was descended from British colonists who arrived in North America in 1670. Her middle name was a tribute to her ancestor William Marbury, of the landmark Marbury v. Madison Supreme Court decision, which helped establish the doctrine of judicial review.
Ms. Bonniwell earned a bachelor’s degree in 1969 from Vassar College, where she studied art. She briefly worked at the Sotheby’s auction house before returning to school for a master’s from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1976.
Besides her husband, she is survived by her son, Alexander; a sister, Anne Gale; a brother, Charles Bonniwell; and a stepdaughter, Lynn Leibovitz.
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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/business/media/katherine-m-bonniwell-life-magazine-publisher-dies-at-70.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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