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Mortimer Benjamin ("Mort") Zuckerman (born 1937, in Montreal, Canada) is an American billionaire magazine editor, publisher, and real estate tycoon.
Zuckerman co-founded Boston Properties, Inc. in 1970; he is chairman of the board, and director. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report and the publisher/owner of the New York Daily News since 1993. Zuckerman is the 382nd richest man in the world by Forbes list.
Zuckerman graduated from Harvard University's Law School with L.L.M. in 1962, University of Pennsylvania's the Wharton School with M.B.A. and distinction of honor in 1961, McGill University in Montreal, Canada with L.L.B. in 1961, and B.A. in 1957. He entered McGill at the age of sixteen.
Zuckerman taught at Harvard Business School as an associate professor for nine years and at Yale University. He also spent seven years at real estate firm Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, where he rose to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
In 1980, he acquired the literary magazine the Atlantic Monthly, where he was Chairman from 1980 to 1999. In 1984, Mortimer Zuckerman bought U.S. News & World Report, where he remains its Editor-in-Chief.
Zuckerman serves on the Board of Trustees of several educational and private institutions such as New York University, the Aspen Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Hole in the Wall Gang Fund, the Center for Communications. He is a member of the JPMorgan's National Advisory Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Institute for Near East, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies. He worked as a president of the Board of Trustees of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Zuckerman is known to be a mentor to and close associate of Daniel M. Snyder, owner of the NFL American football team Washington Redskins. He has been a financial backer to Snyder's business ventures (CampusUSA magazine), and was a shareholder and director in Snyder Communications Inc., a marketing services business which was taken over in 2000 (by Havas Advertising).
In addition to his publishing and real-estate interests, Zuckerman is also a sought-after commentator on world affairs and an active supporter of Israeli, Zionist and international Jewish causes.
He occasionally appears on The McLaughlin Group and writes columns for U.S. News & World Report and the New York Daily News, usually taking liberal to centrist positions on political matters, unless Israel is at issue, whereby he adopts highly conservative views[citation needed] on matters related to Israel's security, etc. Among others, a cause he often advocates in his columns is support for Israel. Zuckerman is also an advisory chair for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think-tank.
Between 2001 and 2003, Zuckerman was the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Typically, the nominating committee attempts to choose a person who is both respected and uncontroverisal. However, Zuckerman was widely opposed by liberal Jewish factions (, ). Nonetheless, Zuckerman was eventually elected and served a full term.
In 2005, before the Jewish settlers' pullout from Gaza, at James Wolfensohn's request, Zuckerman made a private plea to his friends including Bill Gates, and Leonard Stern and raised $14 million within two days for a private advocacy group the Aspen Institute which bought greenhouses in Gaza and transferred it to Palestinians as a gift. The greenhouses were then damaged and looted after the handover.
Zuckerman's New York Daily News ran an editorial opposing NYU's Graduate Student Organizing Committee's attempt to win a second union contract in late 2005, but failed to report that the owner of the paper was a trustee, a possible conflict of interest.[citation needed]
After being placed on The Colbert Report's "On-Notice" list, Zuckerman was the first man to respond to the Comedy Central show's 60-day challenge to defend himself. Colbert then removed him from the list.[citation needed]
Zuckerman was awarded the Commandeur De L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
