New Yorker's Shawn dies

NEW YORK (Reuter) - William Shawn, retired editor of The New Yorker magazine, died aged 85.

Shawn, editor from 1951 to 1985, was only the second editor of the weekly magazine. He was credited with publishing and encouraging some of the United States' most important writers.

He was replaced in 1985 by Robert Gottlieb, who was succeeded by Tina Brown earlier this year in a big shake-up at the publication. Ms Brown said: 'Although he wouldn't admit it, Shawn was probably the greatest magazine editor who ever lived and one of the most important figures in American letters this century.'