Kurt Andersen is an American novelist who is also host of the Peabody-winning public radio program Studio 360, a co-production between Public Radio International and WNYC. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he edited the Harvard Lampoon. In 1986 with E. Graydon Carter he co-founded Spy magazine, which they sold in 1991; it continued publishing until 1998. Previously he has been a writer and columnist for New York Magazine, and The New Yorker and Time. Gene Shalit, in the acknowledgments to his 1987 book Laughing Matters, thanked Andersen, who "provided support, a keen mind, and essential advice, particularly during the crucial formative stages; tipped me off to some pieces unfamiliar to me ... ; and contributed the ... Afterword." He was also the architecture and design critic for Time for nine years. In 1996, Bill Reilly fired Andersen after two and a half years from his position as editor-in-chief at New York, citing the publication's financial results. [More at Wikipedia]

August 22nd, 1954 in Omaha (Age 70)