Mary Thom

Mary Thom
Born	(1944-06-03)June 3, 1944 Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Died	April 26, 2013(2013-04-26) (aged 68) Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Editor
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	Bryn Mawr, 1966
Subject	Feminism, women's rights

Mary Thom (June 3, 1944 – April 26, 2013)^[1] was an American feminist, writer, and editor. She was one of the founding editors of Ms. magazine, and was an editor for the magazine for 20 years.^[2][3]

Early life and education[edit]

Thom was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944, and raised in Akron, Ohio. Her father, Paul, was an engineer who worked in the steel industry. Her mother, Susan, was a homemaker. Thom listened to jazz and enjoyed Shakespeare, encouraged by her mother. She credited these two interests at triggering her interest in activism.^[4][5]

She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1966. While there, she became involved in the anti-war and civil rights movements. She was a fundraiser for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.^[4] Thom also joined the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) during this time.^[5]

Thom entered graduate school in 1966 at Columbia University, in pursuit of a PhD in European history but left in 1968 after the tumultuous student strike that began there in April, 1968.^[5]

Career[edit]

After leaving Columbia, Thom stayed in Manhattan, and for the next three years, worked as an associate editor at Facts on File and, in 1971, volunteered for the newly-founded National Women's Political Caucus.^[5]

Thom joined Ms. in 1972, first as a volunteer, then a researcher, and then as an editor.^[5] She became executive editor in 1990. When she started working at Ms. she created an evaluation system about politicians. It was a feature in the magazine.^[4] While at Ms., Thom edited the book, Letters to Ms.^[5]

In 1992, Thom left Ms. as the executive editor of the magazine. She wrote a book about the history of the magazine, Inside Ms. 25 Years of the Magazine and the Feminist Movement. in 1997.^[6] After she left to become a freelance writer and editor, Thom maintained an association with Ms. until 2001.^[5] She also co-wrote a book about Bella Abzug with Suzanne Braun Levine.^[3]

At the time of her death, she was an editor-in-chief of the Women's Media Center, a think-tank group. Gloria Steinem called her "one of the women's movement's best editors."^[3]

Later life and death[edit]

Thom lived and worked in New York City and never married. She enjoyed motorcycles.

Thom was killed in a motorcycle accident in Yonkers, New York on April 26, 2013.^[2] Thom had picked up her 1996 Honda Magna 750 from winter storage when she veered into traffic upon entering a highway. She struck a vehicle and was struck by another.^[2]

Legacy[edit]

The Women's Media Center now sponsors the Mary Thom Art of Editing Award.^[7]

Works[edit]

• Thom, Mary (1987). Letters to Ms., 1972-1987. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 9780805003840.
• Thom, Mary (1997). Inside Ms.: 25 years of the magazine and the feminist movement. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 9780805037326.
• Thom, Mary; Levine, Suzanne Braun (2007). Bella Abzug: how one tough broad from the Bronx fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy-- : an oral history. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 9780374531492.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Mary Thom papers at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections
• Official profile from the Women's Media Center
• Interview with Mary Thom by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, June 27, 2011