BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — An over-used cliche in the American language is that some man or woman is or was "larger than life." As with most cliches, this one can render a measure of value by capturing the aura of an unusual individual.
That certainly is the case with the legendary American magazine editor Clay Felker, who was born in the American South and lived the best part of his life in the American Northeast — in throbbing Manhattan and the chic Hamptons on Long Island.
A graduate of Duke University in North Carolina, he landed a neat job at Sports Illustrated, came into possession of a deeply disrespectful scouting report on the then-aging Yankee Joe Dimaggio that effectively compelled the superstar to retire, married the gorgeous actress Pamela Tiffin (lasted seven years), edited various high-profile, upmarket American magazines, married the brilliant journalist Gail Sheehy and, last week, died after a lengthy struggle with throat cancer.