Tribute to an Editor: Don Moser of the Smithsonian

Don Moser, who was editor of the Smithsonian magazine for 30 years (1981 to 2001), died recently. He was 83. I was a magazine editor and publisher around the same time, only I worked for trade magazines and he worked for the Smithsonian, that wonderful hybrid of consumer magazine style and museum magazine content, but what a museum.

I only met Don once. I was told that I was one of three finalists for the position of publisher of the Smithsonian, succeeding Joe Bonsignor. I had interviewed with practically everyone there, but they said I had to meet Don..

Don had worked at Life magazine and really was an editor of the golden age, very hands-on, very old school, We met at a restaurant. He ordered a drink. I consequently ordered one. He inhaled that one and ordered another. I paused a moment and then ordered another. After just a little while, he ordered a third. I passed. Don kind of sniffed at me, acknowledging that I had fallen behind, in several senses of the word.

I had read that he was interested in astronomy. I mentioned that my Dad was 11 when Haley's Comet had appeared in 1910 and had told me how spectacular it was. Don was very interested and was looking forward to the reappearance of the comet that year, 75 years later. (We exchanged notes for a short time later and he related how disappointed he had been by its reappearance.) We talked about films and smoking and architecture and Ohio (he was from Cleveland, my mother was from Youngstown). It went really well, lasted three hours, and I really enjoyed his company.

I didn't get the job. And I know it wasn't about the third drink. The man who got it did fine and held the job for a number of years. Ad sales fell, but then they did many magazines. Circulation was at 2 million, where it still is.

I stopped getting the Smithsonian a few years later. Maybe just a tiny, tiny bit of that was resentment, but mostly it was because the magazine's scope was so broad--the collection of the Smithsonian Institution--that I noticed that for issue after issue I glanced at it and threw it away. But over the years, when I saw an issue that did interest me, I would read the stories straight through. They always had a beginning, middle, and an end, although not necessarily in that order. They were substantive easy reads.

I later realized that I should have read the issues on topics that didn't interest me. I would have learned a lot.

From his obituary, I saw from the tributes from co-workers and employees that Don was the type of editor that I tried to be. He was responsible for the publication's vision, for the publication's issue-to-issue content, for his staff's well being.

I wish I had known him better. I would have learned a lot.

And I like to think that Don is now where he can see Haley's comet up close whenever he wants.

Copyright 2014 by John T. Aquino