James Michaels

James W. Michaels (June 17, 1921 – October 2, 2007) was an American journalist and magazine editor. Michaels served as the longtime editor of Forbes magazine from 1961 until his retirement in 1999.

James Michaels was born in Buffalo, New York, on June 17, 1921. He attended the Culver Military Academy in Indiana and graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1942. Michaels joined the U.S. military during World War II. He applied to the American Field Service in April 1943 and was sent to Bombay India to drive an ambulance for the British Army as part of AFS India Burma Unit 1. James was the nephew of the comedy writer Al Boasberg.

James Michaels stayed with the military until September 1944 when he was released to the Office of War Information. After the war, Mr. Michaels remained in India and worked for the United Press wire service's New Delhi office, giving Mr. Michaels the biggest story of his life; in 1948 he broke the story of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Mr. Michaels spent over four decades with Forbes magazine, after joining as a reporter in 1954 and rising to managing editor in 1957 where he served until 1961 when he became editor.

Mr. Michaels retired from Forbes magazine in 1999 and was succeeded as editor by William Baldwin. He left the magazine to help expand the Forbes Inc parent company into new mediums including television, books and new media. During his time as with Forbes, the magazine's circulation grew from 130,000 to 785,000, demonstrating how much readers enjoyed the magazine.

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