Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative titan who edited Commentary magazine for 35 years, died Tuesday in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 95.
His son, John Podhoretz, confirmed his death and revealed his father passed peacefully with a recent translation of “The Odyssey” atop his desk in a tribute for Commentary.
“At the very end of his life, Norman Podhoretz was his truest self, a man of letters,” John wrote.
Podhoretz transformed Commentary —published via the American Jewish Committee — from a modest journal into one of the most influential conservative publications in America, The New York Times (NYT) reported. He led the magazine from 1960 to 1995 and began shifting toward the right after taking up the helm. He would take aim at Soviet expansionism and later Islamist militancy. (RELATED: David Horowitz, Conservative Stalwart, Dead At 86)
“Norman laid the groundwork for the more muscular democratizing version of neoconservatism,” scholar Jacob Heilbrunn said. “It was a version he contrasted with the more limited foreign policy espoused by neoconservatives like Ms. Kirkpatrick, who were skeptical that the United States could remake developing societies in its image.”
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— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 17, 2025
Born in Brooklyn on Jan. 16, 1930, to a Yiddish-speaking milkman from Eastern Europe, Podhoretz secured a scholarship to Columbia University, according to the NYT. He studied under famed literary critic Lionel Trilling before pursuing graduate work at the University of Cambridge.
His political journey took him from the liberal intellectual circles of 1950s New York to the upper ranks of conservative thought. President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.
His shift cost him friendships with prominent writers including Norman Mailer, Lillian Hellman and Irving Howe. “It was a really passionate intellectual life,” Podhoretz said in 2017 to The New York Times. “It’s hard to image today, but people actually came to blows over literary disagreements.”
His wife, social critic Midge Decter, passed away in 2022. Survivors include his son John, now editor of Commentary, daughter Ruthie Blum, stepdaughter Naomi Decter Munson, 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
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