Renowned newspaper executive and author Ira Ellenthal dead at 88: ‘One of a kind’

Ira Ellenthal, a renowned newspaper executive whose credits include the New York Daily News and The Atlantic, died peacefully at his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, at 88.

Ellenthal, a Queens native who followed his father into the newspaper business, served as publisher and CEO of several noted outlets, authored several books on sales and shared his knowledge on a Substack column until just weeks before his death on July 29, friends and family said.

“Ira was my former boss at The Atlantic and a longtime mentor and friend,” media exec Matt Barba wrote in a moving tribute. “I had the honor of supporting the technical aspects of [Ellethal’s Substack columns] effort while Ira was the driving creative force.

“He was thrilled to find you, his new audience, and was passionate about sharing the sales lessons and anecdotes he had accumulated throughout his distinguished career, which spanned decades,” he said.

Ellenthal was born in Far Rockaway in 1937, the son of Alexander “Slootie” Ellenthal, who worked nearly four decades in the delivery department of the New York Daily News.

He went on to New York University, where he served as assistant sports editor of the school paper.

Despite his love for journalism, Ellenthal realized early that his talents lay in the business side of the industry, and moved into consumer publishing after serving as editor and publisher of several trade publications, according to the Daily News.

By the early 1990s, he was president and associate publisher of the News, the start of a long and illustrious career that spanned decades.

He left the tabloid in 1998 to take over as CEO and group publisher of US News & World Report, The Atlantic and Fast Company — only to return to the Daily News as an executive in 2000.

He left the outlet in 2006, and later served as associate publisher of El Vocero de Puerto Rico.

But Ellenthal, who had already penned three books, wasn’t ready to call it a career.

He published “Selling Smart” in 1982, followed by 2003’s “Slootie’s Wars,” a memorial to his father, before writing “The Last Book About Selling That You’ll Ever Need” in 2020.

Ellenthal continued to spread his life experience on the Substack channel, “The Art of Selling,” with two ongoing columns, “Sellenthal” and “Selling Shorts,” with the last entry penned by his protégé, Barba.

“As one longtime friend wrote, ‘Ira will be missed for his (not so sincere) self-deprecating humor, his love of life, his intellect and, of course, his storytelling.”

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Judith, and three sons, Matthew, Jonathan and Andrew, and eight grandchildren, his family said.