Mark Perry, who served as Deputy Managing Editor and then Editor of The VVA Veteran from 1985-92, died August 8. He was 71 years old and succumbed to lung cancer. After his tenure at VVA, Perry went on to a long career as a journalist, historian, and author specializing in the U.S. military, intelligence, and foreign affairs.

His ten books include Four Stars: The Inside Story of the Forty-Year Battle Between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and America’s Civilian Leaders (1989); Partners In Command: George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in War and Peace (2007), and The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur (2014). 

During his time at The Veteran, Perry was instrumental in the evolution of the publication from a small newsletter into a comprehensive veterans magazine. His influence is still being felt: He hired Current Editor Michael Keating as staff photographer and greatly expanded Arts Editor Marc Leepson’s responsibilities.

Perry later served as a senior foreign policy analyst and political director for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, and as a senior analyst for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

He appeared on many TV news shows, including C-SPAN, CNN’s Special Assignment and The International Hour, and on Al-Jazeera television. He served as the Washington correspondent for The Palestine Report, and his work appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, and The New Yorker. 

“Mark’s unexpected death came as a shock across a wide spectrum of the Washington editorial world,” said Jeff Stein, who preceded Perry as The Veteran’s editor. “He was dedicated to his craft and carved out a remarkably successful career as an author of well-received books.”

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