Editors' Editor

Ask DERO A. SAUNDERS '35 what is the quintessential quality of a first-rate editor and - when he gets through explaining that his response should not be construed as implying that he thinks he is one (which, by common consent, he is) - he'll tell you unequivocally quivocally "being out of control in love for words."

He must find it "irresistible to correct" anyone any time, under any circumstances. The Saunders test: if the most voluptuous woman in the world were to suggest "Let's you and I kiss," the true (male) editor's instinctive first reaction would be to say firmly "you and me."

"A lot of information of a useless sort" also counts as a valuable asset. "There is no scrap of incidental information that doesn't come in handy sooner or later."

Dero Saunders' love affair with words is a steadfast and impassioned one, as readers of Forbes, where he is Executive Editor; Fortune, where he was for 12 years a writer and editor; and other publications whose pages his prose has graced with style, wit, and erudition can testify.

One manifestation of his reverence for "the nobility of the English language" is a certain irritation with modern dictionaries which, by codifying ungainly jargon and trendy colloquialisms, grants them unwarranted respectability, in his judgment. He is confident that the language will withstand the assaults of the faddish - "it always has; like an oyster, it spews out the useless" - but apprehensive lest locking the unworthy into the lexicon retard the process.

That the South has been the breeding ground for more than its share of good writers and editors has the ring of gospel. Saunders, a Mississippian by birth and upbringing, ascribes this to "an active inner life." Southerners, "always having conversations with themselves," may have a special affinity, he suggests, for the editor's silent running commentary about what he's doing, what he's going to do, and what his writers are writing about - and for the writer's capacity for deep immersion in his subject.

The two talents do not necessarily coincide, Saunders finds, since "they require two different kinds of energy: the initiating energy of the writer and the reactive energy of the editor." An editor must be able to superimpose on the writer's triangular relationship between himself, his subject, and his readers yet another dimension, himself as reactor.

As Executive Editor of the bi-monthly Forbes, Saunders is "the man who gets it together." A feature magazine with a 1972 circulation of 625,000, it offers subscribers in-depth analysis rather than spot news of the business world. Nonetheless, 60 to TO percent of the contents is prepared during the two-week span between issues. Even the cover story, generally projected well in advance, is subject to change if a more opportune topic for the lead article emerges from editorial conferences. Saunders relegates the term "flexibility" to the realm of gross understatement of the Forbes staffs modus operandi.

With no academic background in journalism, history, or economics, Saunders has become an esteemed journalist, a distinguished historical editor, and one of the most respected financial writers in the trade. A sociology major with an M.A. from Columbia in the same field, he has, in occasional years, taught English at Hunter College. His scholarship is impeccable: his editions of The Portable Gibbon and The Autobiography ofEdward Gibbon and Mommsen's The History of Rome, of which he was co-editor, have won acclaim from academic critics notably stingy with praise for non-residents of the Ivory Tower.

Even his colleagues are awed by Saunders' breadth. Says one: "Medicine, aviation, banking - I mean he can translate Latin! - he's close to being an authority on all of them."

The subject of these accolades diverts credit for his extraordinary scope to the kind of liberal arts education that Dartmouth bestows on her receptive sons - with its objective, not of training skills, but of broadening the mind's horizons, stimulating intellectual curiosity, and sharpening critical insight.

And Saunders pays more than casual interest on his acknowledged debt to Dartmouth. In addition to sending his sons, David '63 and Richard '69, to Hanover, for more of the same, he labors assiduously for the College and his Class. Since 1966 he has been co-editor of the 1935 Tear Bag, a responsibility he carries out with the same flair that distinguishes his professional work. He served from 1961 to 1967 on the. AlumniMagazine's Advisory Board. He was a member of the Alumni Council from 1968 to 1971, the last year as president.

Saunders and his wife Bea - who is "serious editorial com- petition" as Publications Director for the National Association of Social Workers - live in a handsomely remodeled 1825 brownstone in New York City, within walking distance of his office. An unreconstructed city man, he takes issue with viewers-with-alarm of urban living. He does, nevertheless, repair regularly to his Pennsylvania farm, where he keeps an expert tennis form in trim fettle.

Editing, writing, teaching, translating Latin, delivering a fast serve. The latter-day Renaissance Man from Forbes does it - and does it well.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It was sheer coincidence that last month's Alumni Album skulduggery involved the postponement of the profile of Dero Saunder, who wrote the piece about the retiring editor. This month the Album returns to normalcy — and the unvarnished truth.