Lawrence Spivak

Lawrence E. Spivak
Spivak at right with Ned Brooks, 1960.
Born	(1900-06-11)June 11, 1900 Brooklyn, New York
Died	March 9, 1994(1994-03-09) (aged 93) Washington, D.C.
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Broadcast journalist Publisher
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Beir Ring (1924–1983)
Children	Judith Spivak Frost Jonathan Martin Spivak

Lawrence Edmund Spivak (June 11, 1900 – March 9, 1994) was an American publisher and journalist who was best known as the co-founder, producer and host of the prestigious public affairs program Meet the Press. He and journalist Martha Rountree founded the program as promotion for Spivak's magazine, The American Mercury, and it became the longest-running continuous network series in television history. During his 28 years as panelist and moderator of Meet the Press, Spivak was known for his pointed questioning of policy makers.

Lawrence E. Spivak was born June 11, 1900, in New York City. In 1921 he graduated cum laude from Harvard University and began his career in publishing as business manager for Antiques magazine. He married psychologist Charlotte Beir Ring in 1924, and together they had two children. From 1930 to 1933 Spivak worked for Hunting and Fishing and National Sportsman magazines, as circulation director and assistant to the publisher.

In 1934 Spivak became business manager for The American Mercury, a literary magazine that critiqued the American scene, while it was edited by journalist H. L. Mencken. Spivak purchased the magazine in 1939. He served as its editor from 1944 to 1950 when he sold it.

In 1937 Spivak founded Mercury Publications, Inc., a publishing company with imprints including American Mercury Books, Mercury Mysteries, Bestseller Mysteries and Jonathan Press Mysteries. Spivak published inexpensive digest-sized paperback editions, often abridged, of works by authors including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Dashiell Hammett, Ellery Queen, Georges Simenon, Rex Stout and Cornell Woolrich. Mercury Publications also included such periodicals as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Book of Wit and Humor and Detective: The Magazine of True Crime Cases. Spivak sold his interest in Mercury Publications in 1954.