SAN FRANCISCO — Magazine publisher Carl Portale, a mentor to John F. Kennedy Jr. at George magazine, passed away Oct. 20 in Harrison, NY.
He was 77 and had been battling cancer.
Portale was a longtime publisher of Elle and Harper’s Bazaar after learning about the fashion world as a salesman at a men’s retail store.
His first publishing job was with Snowmobiling magazine, which he started with his wife, Carol Rogers Portale, who served as the editor.
Portale later launched European Travel & Life, which was eventually sold, and then worked for Good Housekeeping, Town & Country and Mirabella.
More recently, he had served as a vice president and publishing director at Glam Media.
In 1993, he was named publisher of the year by Advertising Age for leading a revival of Harper’s Bazaar with Editor-in-Chief Liz Tilberis. In 1997 Italia magazine named him as one of the most influential Italians in the US.
A funeral Mass is planned for noon on Oct. 22 at St. Gregory the Great Church in Harrison.