Jones, Landon Y. (“Lanny”), Jr., writer, editor, and beloved family member and citizen of the Princeton community, died on Saturday, Aug. 17. He will be missed by all who knew his lively and generous spirit.

Born in Rome, Georgia in 1943, raised in St. Louis, and a long-time resident of Princeton, Lanny spent his adult life on the East Coast, with an eye on the American West. He was known for his boundless energy, his unfailing generosity, and his insatiable appetite for meeting new and interesting people while maintaining innumerable friendships and deep family connections.

Lanny reached the pinnacle of his editorial career during the heyday of magazine journalism in the 1980s and ’90s. From 1984-89, he was the managing editor (the highest editorial position at Time Inc.) of Money magazine. Under his direction, the financial monthly won three consecutive National Magazine Awards, including general excellence.

From 1989-97, Lanny was the managing editor of People magazine, the most successful magazine in publishing history. While at People, he directed the launch of three new magazines: Who Weekly (1992), In Style (1994), and People en Español (1996). In 2015, he was awarded the Time Inc. Lifetime Achievement Award.

Throughout his life, Lanny served as a mentor and champion for countless writers and journalists. He taught courses in nonfiction writing at Princeton University (1995), Northwestern University (2006), and Montana State University (2008). He served in formal and informal advisory roles for the Princeton Alumni Weekly, the Daily Princetonian, and the Princeton University English Department.

Lanny’s first nonfiction work, Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation (Putman, 1980), introduced the world to the term “baby boomer,” and was the first close examination of the Baby Boom generation as a cultural phenomenon. It was nominated for the American Book Award in Nonfiction.

A college summer spent on a ranch in Ennis, Montana proved fateful. Lanny was inspired by the American West and returned throughout his life. He spent more than 20 summers with his wife Sarah at their second home in Bozeman, Montana, where they welcomed family members and countless friends. He also cherished many family vacations at the A-Bar-A Ranch in Encampment, Wyoming. Lanny merged his personal interest in the West with his professional life when he wrote a 2016 cover story in the New York Times Sunday Travel section about Vladimir Nabokov’s travels in the West, which won the New York Press Club Award as the best travel article of the eyar. He published two books relating to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark: William Clark and the Shaping of the West (Hill and Wang, 2004), and The Essential Lewis and Clark (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2000).

In his final published book, Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved Into a Culture of Fans and Followers (Beacon Press, 2023), Lanny explored the celebrity culture that he played a role in developing during his time at People. He recounted his interviews with, among others, Malcolm X, Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, President Bill Clinton, President George H.W. Bush, Bill Gates, and singers Bobby Short and Arlo Guthrie.

As a child in St. Louis, Lanny suffered significant hearing loss following a mumps infection. He learned to read lips at the Central Institute for the Deaf. With that skill, Lanny appeared to consider the problem solved, rarely complaining and still managing to be the life of any bustling party.

He attended Saint Louis Country Day School, where he played soccer and football, ran track, and served as student council president. He came east to Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude in 1966. At Princeton, he was active with the Daily Princetonian, wrote the “On the Campus” column for Princeton Alumni Weekly, and was a member of Colonial Club. He edited the Princeton Alumni Weekly from 1969-1974 and wrote for Time and People before joining Money in 1984. In 1967 he was a member of a special Life magazine investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy that received the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service.

Living in Princeton, Lanny was a consummate connector of people. Everybody knew Lanny and Lanny knew everybody – distinguished professors and academics at the University and Institute for Advanced Study, businesspeople, members of the arts and letters community, and staff at local establishments he frequented. Lanny was a prolific member of the Old Guard, for which he arranged and introduced over 100 speakers and received an exemplary service award for his efforts.

At the time of his death, Lanny was serving on the board of The Rita Allen Foundation. He previously served on the boards of The Alzheimer’s Association, American Rivers, and Princeton Alumni Corps.

Lanny was a cheerleader for his family and friends to the end. He worked extraordinarily hard during his career with Time Inc., but always prioritized his family, including by coaching the soccer teams of his children. He dove headlong into family life following his retirement at age 57. He was a steadfast supporter of his children, gifted at eliciting a laugh from his grandchildren, and always eager to share tales of their latest adventures. With his diagnosis of myelofibrosis and subsequent ordeal of his bone marrow transplant, Lanny became increasingly aware of the fleeting nature of his time with his family. He never once finished a holiday toast with a dry eye. And he was forever grateful for the gift of extended life provided by his medical team at Memorial Sloan Kettering and other institutions.

Lanny is survived by his wife of 54 years, Sarah Brown Jones; their three children, Rebecca J. Urciuoli, Landon Y. Jones III, and Catherine (“Cassie”) M. Jones; their respective spouses, Christian J.A. Urciuoli, Beth Nell Vaccaro, and Mark C. Wethli; six grandchildren: Jane Urciuoli, Nina Urciuoli, Luke Jones, Adam Jones, Wren Wethli, and Reed Wethli; and brothers Charles E. (Carol Ann) Jones and Byron W. (Julie Morrison) Jones.

Services and Contributions: A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 15 at the Princeton University Chapel. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Princeton Public Library, the Institute for Advanced Study, and Princeton University, for the benefit of the Princeton University Library.