Alvin P. Sanoff, 65; started U.S. News’ ‘Best Colleges’ editions
Alvin P. Sanoff, 65, who launched U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” editions, died of pancreatic cancer May 17 at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Sanoff joined the magazine in 1977 as an associate editor, covering American culture. From 1992 to 1998, he was managing editor of the magazine’s annual guides that ranked U.S. colleges and graduate schools.
Leaders at schools that fared poorly challenged the “America’s Best” methodology.
Sanoff took the criticism “very seriously,” said his son Geoff Sanoff, and worked to make the methodology more sophisticated. “His goal was ... not to get the marketing people more applications but to get people the best information about ... the best values in college education.”
Born in the Bronx, N.Y., and raised in Brookline, Mass., Sanoff graduated from Harvard University in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, and a year later he received a master’s in journalism from Columbia University.
Sanoff joined the Baltimore Sun in 1967, covering education and labor and writing editorials, and became editorial page editor for the Dayton Journal Herald in Ohio in 1971.
After leaving U.S. News & World Report, Sanoff advised colleges and school systems on long-term planning, marketing and communications.
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