John Jay Iselin (1933 - 2008)

Former Marconi Society President, Dies at 74

John Jay Iselin, who served as President of the Marconi Society from 2000 until his retirement at the end of 2006, died in Manhattan on May 6th of pneumonia. He was 74. 

"He was a thoughtful, passionate leader who shared the same kind of passion for technology and its beneficial potential as did Gioia Marconi Braga, the Society's founder," said Robert Lucky, Marconi Society Board Chairman.  "He was brilliant, unfailingly gracious, and always open to new ideas. We will truly miss him." 

Iselin, known to everyone as "Jay," not only left his mark on the Marconi Society, but helped to define public television as we know it today. As Director of WNET (Channel 13), one of the nation's preeminent public television stations--and its largest--his innovative and visionary programming decisions over a 14 year span there brought the station great visibility and made it a role model that widely influenced the types of programs being offered through the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).  

He especially broadened the station's offerings in culture, science and news, supporting the WNET's origination and production of such classics as "Great Performances," "Live From Lincoln Center," "The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour," Bill Moyers' Journal" and "Nature." The station also collaborated on or imported dozens of other acclaimed programs, from "The Brain," to "Monty Python's Flying Circus." He was known as someone who had the ability to say yes when everyone else was saying no due to financial constraints, according to those who worked with him at the station. One example was the station's inspired agreement to co-produce--at a time when it was facing tremendous financial pressures--Evelyn Waugh's novel "Brideshead Revisited," starring Jeremy Irons. 

Although his ties to New York ran deep, Iselin was born on Dec. 8, 1933, in Greenville, S.C. the direct descendant through his father of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and on his mother's side, of Benjamin Franklin. His father, a New York banker had moved the family South, where he owned cotton mills, during the Depression. 

A Harvard graduate who went on to Cambridge to study law and receive a master's degree, he returned to earn a Ph.D. in government from Harvard. His first job was as a journalist for Newsweek magazine, first covering Robert F. Kennedy's Justice Department, and then becoming the magazine's national affairs editor. He moved to WNET as general manager in 1971. 

Iselin's inspired program choices also helped Channel 13 become a formidable fundraising machine, increasing the station's budget from $15 million to $80 million as it became the leading source of programming for the PBS network of about 300 stations at the time. Iselin also is credited with pioneering the now-ubiquitous use of pledge drives to raise money from viewers.  

After leaving WNET in the mid-80's Iselin spent ten years as president of the Cooper Union, a college located in New York's East Village, where he led a successful $50 million capital campaign, created several endowed professorships and broadened the Board of Trustees. He left to head the Marconi Society in 2000. 

Iselin is survived by Lea, his wife of 51 years; two brothers, Duane of Mount Desert, Me., and William of Charleston, S.C.; two sisters, Fanny Cromwell of Greenville, S.C., and Lea Rohrbaugh of New York City; five children, William, of Paris, Benjamin, of Brooklyn, Josie, of San Francisco, Fannie Minot of Hamilton, Mass., and Alison Russell of Brooklyn; and 13 grandchildren.

Outpouring of condolences and comments on John Jay Iselin's death:

We have received numerous notes from Marconi Fellows, Board members and friends from around the world. If you have a comment or story to pass along, please send it to hattihamlin@aol.com and we'll make sure it is brought to the attention of Jay's family. 

Below is a sample of comments received to date.

"I was shocked and terribly sorry about Jay Iselin's death. It is a loss to the Fellowship and to the community."
-- George Bugliarello, President Emeritus and University Professor Polytechnic University and Marconi Society Board Member

"Your announcement that Jay Iselin had died met with much sadness here.  I cannot really say I was surprised.  Jay had carried on courageously after his stroke but it was a heavy burden. I really enjoyed my interactions with Jay and I will miss him."

--James L. Massey, Marconi Fellow (from Denmark) 

"Very sad to hear the news. He was a precious person. Once I spent a couple of days at Cooper Union , besides interaction at a few Marconi meetings. I felt good that he was associated with us. I had not realized that he was so centrally involved with Public Television in the US - particularly Channel 13. I have felt that was the only part of the US television that corresponded with the Marconi motive. In fact I collaborated with some of its producers and learnt from them. I will always treasure a letter that JAY wrote to me after my address at the time when Tim Berners Lee was being honoured. I will miss him."
--Yash Pal, Marconi Fellow (from India)

"Pamela and I thought we knew Jay quite well. We were still astonished when we read about his numerous achievements in various capacities."

--Professor Joseph Traub, Columbia University and Marconi Society Board Member 

"Very sad and surely premature. I liked Jay a great deal and will miss him and his exuberant personality. He was always the gentleman."
--Leonard Kleinrock, Marconi Fellow

"A very thoughtful remembrance - he will surely be missed. 74 is too young!"

 --Vint Cerf, Marconi Fellow 

"Preparing his Marconi obituary made me see that Jay's PBS days were truly "glory days" and as a viewer, I have a lot to thank him for."

--Hatti Hamlin, Marconi Society Public Affairs Director

"Françoise and I were deeply saddened by the death of Jay, whose kindness was natural and unshakeable. Condolences to his family and loved ones."
-- Claude Berrou

Marconi Board Bio

When he joined the Marconi International Fellowship Foundation in 2000, John Jay Iselin brought with him a wealth of experience and affiliations garnered during a distinguished career in academia, public broadcasting, magazine journalism, book publishing, and public affairs. This background is an asset as the Foundation and its Board are embarked on an initiative to invigorate the well-renown Marconi Fellowships with new outreach programs consistent with its Founder's mission.

Immediately before assuming the presidency of the Marconi Foundation, Mr. Iselin served as President of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He was named its tenth President Emeritus following a decade as head of the venerable institution, now more than 140 years old. During his tenure, Cooper Union:

• Completed a $50 million capital campaign;
• Made extensive investments in facilities, including labs, studios a residence hall, an engineering design studio and renovation of its national landmark foundation building;
• Created endowed professorships in its three schools - Art, Architecture, Engineering;
• Made significant curriculum advances in engineering, re-energized its School of Art and strengthened the Humanities faculty;
• Strengthened its administrative leadership by adding new trustees; new deans for art and humanities, and creating new top management posts;
• Began planning for a much larger capital drive.

Before coming to Cooper Union, Mr. Iselin had been President of WNET (Channel 13 in New York), the largest public television station in the U.S., and of the station's parent company, the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, posts he held from 1973 to 1987. Upon joining the station in 1971 as General Manager, he was instrumental in creating a varied and distinctive schedule of programming. He oversaw the production of many distinguished programs and series, including: Great Performances, Live from Lincoln Center, The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, Bill Moyers' Journal, Nature, Currents and the unprecedented six-year series of Shakespeare plays. WNET also pioneered minority-oriented programming, including Black Journal.

Prior to WNET, he served as a Vice-President of Harper & Row Publishers from 1969 to 1971 and as Newsweek's Senior National Affairs Editor from 1965 to 1969. He was a correspondent in Newsweek's Washington Bureau (1962-65); ); a correspondent for the Congressional Quarterly while on a research fellowship at the Brookings Institution in Washington (1960-1961).

Mr. Iselin has served as a consultant to the Twentieth Century Fund, a New York-based, not-for-profit foundation involved in studies in politics and communications and as a senior fellow at the Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia University's Teachers College. He currently also serves as a consultant to Ireland's Waterford Institute of Technology.

Mr. Iselin is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. He earned an A.B. in American history and literature from Harvard College in 1956; a bachelor's and master's degree in 1958 from Cambridge University in England where he read law; and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University in 1964. He has received honorary degrees from Adelphi University, Long Island University and Lander College and the Distinguished Citizen Award from the State Trustees of the State University of New York.

He serves as a trustee of the Waterford Institute, National Geographic Society, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Archives Partnership Trust of New York State, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and Ventures in Education. A director of the the Academy of Political Science, Mr. Iselin is on the editorial board of the John Jay Papers at Columbia University. In addition, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Storm King Advisory Council. He formerly was on the Board of Overseers at Harvard University and a member of the South Carolina Bar.

Mr. Iselin and his wife, the former Josephine Lea Barnes, a lawyer in private practice, reside in New York. They are the parents of five adult children.