{{short description|American journalist}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}}

'''Leo Lerman''' (May 23, 1914 – August 22, 1994) was an American writer and editor who worked for Condé Nast Publications for more than 50 years.<ref name="nytobit">Grimes, William (August 23, 1994). Leo Lerman, 80, Editor at Conde Nast Magazines. ''The New York Times''</ref> Lerman also wrote for the ''New York Herald Tribune'', ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Dance Magazine'', and ''Vogue'' and was the editor of ''Playbill'' for decades.<ref name="gabriel">Gabriel, Trip (November 8, 1994). Leo Lerman Remembered for Buoyant Style, Wit and Elegance. ''The New York Times''</ref>

==Life and career== Lerman was born in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, Ida (née Goldwasser) and Samuel Lerman.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=9780307495747&page=excerpt |title = Powell's Books &#124; the World's Largest Independent Bookstore}}</ref> He grew up in East Harlem and Queens, New York. As a child, he accompanied his house-painter grandfather and father on various jobs in upper-class homes.<ref name="Slate">Amanda Fortini, [http://www.slate.com/id/2169136/ "So, You Want To Be a Star? Leo Lerman's Gossipy Journals Offer Lessons on Fame"], ''Slate'', July 2, 2007</ref> He was openly gay.<ref name="surprise">{{citation |last=Lerman |first=Leo |editor=Stephen Pascal |title=The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-1-4000-4439-9 |year=2007 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/grandsurprisejou0000lerm }}</ref> His partner was Gray Foy (1922-2012), who had a promising career as an artist, specializing in drawings, which was eventually eclipsed by his social life with Lerman: Foy's "Dimensions" was donated to the Museum of Modern Art in New York <ref>{{cite web |last1=Foy |first1=Gray |title=Gray Foy. ''Dimensions''. c.1945–46, {{!}} MoMA |url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/94298?classifications=any&date_begin=Pre-1850&date_end=2018&locale=en&page=1&q=gray+foy&with_images=1 |website=www.moma.org |publisher=Museum of Modern Art, New York |accessdate=10 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> by actor Steve Martin, Foy's friend.<ref>[http://www.theaesthete.com/art/leo-lerman-gray-foy-kings "When Leo Lerman and Gray Foy Were Kings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205130015/http://www.theaesthete.com/art/leo-lerman-gray-foy-kings |date=February 5, 2018 }}, by Brook S. Mason</ref>

Selections from his journals, roughly 10 percent of the writings,<ref name="Slate"/> were published in 2007 as ''The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman''.<ref name="Schillinger">Schillinger, Liesl (April 22, 2007). Life of the Party. ''The New York Times''</ref> Meant to be the source material for a novel he never wrote, the journals detail his social and business interactions with a remarkable number of famous and important people who passed through the New York arts scene from the 1940s to the '90s.

Lerman died in New York City on August 22, 1994. He was 80.

==Filmography== *''The Troublemaker'' (1964) - Dirty Old Man

==Bibliography== *Lerman, Leo (edited by Stephen Pascal). ''The Grand Surprise: The Journals of Leo Lerman.'' Knopf, {{ISBN|978-1-4000-4439-9}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_6881813/ Leo Lerman Papers] at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University * [http://archives.nypl.org/the/18907 Leo Lerman papers, 1911-1986 (bulk 1940-1960)], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts *{{IMDb name|503566}}

{{s-start}} {{s-media}} {{succession box | before= Richard Locke| title= Editor of ''Vanity Fair''| years= 1983–1984 | after= Tina Brown}} {{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerman, Leo}} Category:1914 births Category:1994 deaths Category:American magazine editors Category:American LGBTQ journalists Category:Writers from Manhattan Category:Vanity Fair (magazine) editors Category:20th-century American writers Category:20th-century American journalists Category:Jewish American journalists Category:Gay Jews Category:People from East Harlem Category:Journalists from Queens, New York Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:20th-century American Jews

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