Former BusinessWeek managing editor Dierdorff dies

Jack Dierdorff, who was managing editor of BusinessWeek magazine and worked at the McGraw-Hill publication for 37 years, has died.

Former BusinessWeek editor in chief Stephen Shepard wrote on his Facebook page that Dierdorff died Thursday after a long illness.

“He was a close colleague at Business Week for many years, a committed journalist who cared deeply abut his craft and about the magazine,” said Shepard. “I last saw him in March, when I spoke at the Coffee House in New York, where he was a long-time member and a regular for lunch.”

After Dierdorff retired from the magazine in 1993, he continued to work, including a stint as a consulting editor for BusinessWeek Online.

It was Dierdorff who in 1987  testified that when McGraw-Hill suspected a leak of the “Inside Wall Street” column, it investigated its security procedures.  It directed Donnelley, which printed the magazine, to review its security procedures, and as a result, the plant enhanced those measures.

Dierdorff received the 1992 Elliot Bell Award from the New York Financial Writers’ Association. The award is named in honor of its founding president to an outstanding journalist for a significant long-term contribution to the profession of financial journalism.