Thomas Stanley Matthews; Former Editor of Time Magazine

Thomas Stanley Matthews, 89, editor of Time magazine from 1949 to 1953, when he left to become a successful author and biographer of his boyhood hero, T. S. Eliot. Matthews had worked for New Republic magazine from 1925 to 1929, where he rose to associate editor. He began a 25-year career at Time in 1929, becoming assistant managing editor in 1937, national affairs editor in 1939 and executive editor in 1942. He took over the next year as managing editor and succeeded Henry R. Luce, Time’s creator, as the magazine’s editor in 1949. After leaving Time, Matthews wrote several books, including “To the Gallows I Must Go,” “The Sugar Pill,” “Name and Address,” “O My America,” “Great Tom: Notes Toward the Definition of T. S. Eliot” and “Jacks or Better.” He also wrote two books of verse, “The Worst Unsaid” and “Why So Gloomy?” Born in Cincinnati, Matthews held degrees from Princeton University and Oxford University. His father was the Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, his grandfather was a U.S. senator and his mother was an heiress of the Procter & Gamble manufacturing dynasty. On Jan. 4 of lung cancer at his home in Cavendish, England.