Bill Lane (publisher)

Bill Lane
United States Ambassador to Nauru
In office December 6, 1985 – April 29, 1989
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Robert D. Nesen
Succeeded by	Mel Sembler
United States Ambassador to Australia
In office December 6, 1985 – April 29, 1989
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Robert D. Nesen
Succeeded by	Melvin F. Sembler
Personal details
Born	November 7, 1919 Des Moines, Iowa
Died	July 31, 2010 (aged 90)
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Stanford University

Laurence William "Bill" Lane, Jr. (November 7, 1919 – July 31, 2010) was an American magazine publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist.

Life

Lane was born November 7, 1919, to Laurence William Lane (1890 – February 20, 1967) and Ruth Bell. His father was known as "Larry", so he was generally called "Bill".

In 1928, the family moved from Des Moines, Iowa where Larry Lane was advertising director for the Meredith Corporation (publisher of Better Homes and Gardens magazine) to California.^[1] The Lanes owned and published Sunset Magazine.^[2]

Bill Lane graduated from Stanford University in 1942.

As their father phased himself out of the business, Bill took over the magazine publishing and brother Melvin (1922–2007) managed the book business.^[3]

Lane was the first mayor and one of the founders of Portola Valley, California in 1964.^[4] From 1975 to 1976, he served as US Ambassador-at-large and lived in Japan . From 1985 to 1989, he was appointed US Ambassador to Australia and Nauru.^[5] Ronald Reagan knew Lane from their membership in the Los Rancheros Vistadores horseback riding club.^[6][7]

The Lane publishing business was sold to Time Warner in 1990.

In March 1993 he was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia for service to Australian-American relations.^[8]

The Lanes sponsored an internship program at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution.^[9] In 2005 a donation to Stanford named the Center for the Study of the North American West after the family.^[10]

Bill Lane died on July 31, 2010.^[11]

References

1. Marion Softky (November 5, 2009). "Bill Lane turns 90 and is still going strong". The Almanac. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
2. Kevin Starr (1998). "A New Owner, A New Vision". Sunset magazine: a century of Western living, 1898-1998. Stanford University Libraries. ISBN 978-0-911221-17-6. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
3. Marion Softky (August 8, 2007). "Obituary: Sunset's Mel Lane helped save coastlines and open spaces". The Almanac. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
4. David Boyce (August 15, 2007). "Portola Valley's Bill and Jean Lane honored for their philanthropy". The Almanac. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
5. "L. W. Lane, Jr.". Council of American Ambassadors web site. 2004. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
6. Ronald Reagan; Kiron K. Skinner; Annelise Graebner Anderson; Martin Anderson (2003). Reagan: a life in letters. Simon and Schuster. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7432-1966-2.
7. Jane Knoerle (June 16, 2004). "Reagan and Lane: They rode the range together". The Almanac. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
8. It's an Honour
9. "Bill and Jean Lane Internship Endowment". Smithsonian Institution. September 10, 2008. Archived from the original on June 9, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
10. Lisa Kwiatkowski (February 25, 2005). "Bill Lane makes a gift of $5 million to endow Stanford's Center for the Study of the North American West". Stanford University. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
11. http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=7091

External links

• "The Bill Lane Center for the American West". official web site. Stanford University. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
• "Sunset: How to live in the west". official web site. Sunset publishing Corporation. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
• "The Lane Family". The Sunset Bibliography. Stanford University. Retrieved May 26, 2010.