Parade CEO Anderson retires

Walter Anderson, the chairman and CEO of Condé Nast's Parade Publications, has retired.

"One of Walter's greatest achievements was his creation of the 'modern' Parade," said Condé Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr., in a statement. "He transformed the Sunday magazine with new columns, ideas and a higher level of reporting and writing." In addition, "Walter has played a major role in Parade being one of the most successful publications in the company while publishing books, writing plays, and being an active public servant. We will miss him tremendously but wish him all the best in what I'm sure will be a very fulfilling retirement," Newhouse said.

Anderson, 64, has spent 31 years at the company, and during that span, Parade's circulation rose from 21.6 million in 129 Sunday newspapers to 33 million in 470 papers, according to Condé Nast.

He has held his present titles since 2000, rising from editor-in-chief, a post he took in 1979. Anderson joined the magazine in 1977 as a senior editor.

Earlier, Anderson held management jobs at Gannett Newspapers. He also worked as an investigative reporter, publishing stories in New York and Ring and as a writer for the Associated Press.

Long, a champion of literacy, he has received the Literacy Volunteers of America's Stars in Literacy Award with Barbara Bush in 1990, and he is a member of the board of advisors of the National Center for Family Literacy and serves on the board of Very Special Arts.

In 1999, Anderson launched "It's About Time," a series of filmed discussions with prominent Americans. The project is permanently available at the Library of Congress. His guests have included Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel; Marian Wright-Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund; former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley; the actor Christopher Reeves; and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.