Bernard Krisher | |
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Born | 1931 Frankfurt, Germany |
Residence | Tokyo, Japan |
Nationality | United States |
Education |
Columbia University Harvard University |
Occupation | Journalist, publisher of The Cambodia Daily; founder of World Assistance for Cambodia |
Spouse(s) | Akiko Krisher |
Children | two |
Bernard Krisher (* August 9, 1931) was born in Frankfurt and left Germany in 1937 at the age of six via Paris and Lisbon eventually settling in New York City in January 1941 with his parents. At age 12, Krisher published his own magazine and edited his high school and Queens College newspapers. Later he worked for the New York Herald Tribune and the New York World-Telegram & Sun. After graduating from Queens College Krisher was drafted into the Army during the Korean War but due to his German language skills was stationed in Heidelberg at the US Army's press and information division. In 1958 he visited Japan for the first time. From 1959 to 1960 Krisher spent a year doing Japanese area and language studies at Columbia University as a Ford Foundation Advanced International Reporting Fellow. He joined Newsweek 's Tokyo bureau first as a stringer and eventually became bureau chief until 1980. In 1975 he was the first and only journalist ever do a to a one-on-one interview with the Japanese Emperor Hirohito (Tenno Showa). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
After retiring from Newsweek, Krisher joined Fortune Magazine as its Tokyo correspondent and at the same time joined Shinchosha, a large Japanese publishing company as its chief editorial advisor. There he founded the groundbreaking and wildly successful weekly FOCUS magazine in 1981. Focus magazine has reached peak editions of up to 20 million in its heyday.
Bernard Krisher is the Far East representative of MIT's Media Lab. As such he collaborated with Nicholas Negroponte who was also one of the first to sponsor a school in Cambodia in Krisher's signature school building project.