David Michael Carr (September 8, 1956 – February 12, 2015) was an American columnist, author, and newspaper editor. He wrote a column, Media Equation and covered culture for The New York Times.

Early life

David Michael Carr was born on September 8, 1956 in Minneapolis, to Joan Laura Carr (née O'Neill), a local community leader, and John Lawrence Carr. David had three brothers and three sisters and grew up in Minnetonka, a suburb. He attended the University of Wisconsin–River Falls and the University of Minnesota; he graduated from the latter with a degree in psychology and journalism.

Career

In the early 1980s, David Carr got a job at the alternative weekly Twin Cities Reader becoming its editor. He also edited the Washington City Paper and later joined the short-lived media news website Inside.com. He wrote extensively about the media for The Atlantic Monthly and New York. Carr joined The New York Times in 2002, where he was a cultural reporter and wrote The New York Times Carpetbagger blog. He remained at The New York Times until his death. In his 2008 memoir, The Night of the Gun, he detailed his experiences with cocaine addiction and included interviews with people from his past, tackling the telling of his experiences as if he were reporting about himself. The memoir was excerpted in The New York Times Magazine. Carr was a mentor for the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, who said in 2019: "I couldn't imagine myself as a writer if I had not met David Carr. David Carr was the first person who ever believed in me." Carr was credited for launching Lena Dunham's career and was described by Gawker's John Koblin as the "Daddy" of TV series Girls. Carr was featured prominently in the 2011 documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times, where he was shown interviewing staff from Vice, whom Carr called out for their lack of journalistic knowledge. The article about Vice was noteworthy for its clear depiction of the conflict between new online journalism and traditional journalism. In 2014, he was named the Lack Professor of Media Studies at Boston University, a part-time position where he taught a journalism class called Press Play: Making and distributing content in the present future.

Personal life

Carr divorced his first wife, Kimberly, in 1986. In 1988, he had twin daughters, Erin and Meagan, with his partner Anna Lee. The couple lost custody of the children, who were in foster care until Carr completed rehab and gained custody of the girls. Erin Lee Carr is a documentary film director. He married his second wife, Jill L. Rooney, in 1994; they had a daughter, Maddie. He said that he was a church-going Catholic. He lived in Montclair, New Jersey with his wife and three daughters. Carr had previously battled Hodgkin's lymphoma, and reported developing his hoarse speaking voice during his coverage of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Death

On February 12, 2015, at around 9 p.m. EST, Carr collapsed in the newsroom of The New York Times and was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital, at the age of 58. The cause of death was lung cancer, with heart disease listed as a contributing factor.

Legacy

In September 2015, The New York Times announced a fellowship in his name which would be dedicated to fostering the growth and development of journalists. The first three fellowship recipients, chosen by a panel of Times editors from among more than 600 applicants, were John Herrman, a co-editor and media reporter for The Awl; Amanda Hess, a staff writer at Slate; and Greg Howard, a reporter for Deadspin. In 2016, a David Carr Prize for Emerging Writers at SXSW was presented to author Jaime Boust. The piece will cover what is exciting (or unnerving) about life in the coming years in 2,000 words or less. A character in the TV series The Girls on the Bus is partially based on Carr.

Publications

Appearances