Austin H. Kiplinger

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Austin H. Kiplinger (born September 19, 1918 in Washington, D.C.) is a journalist and philanthropist who lives in Seneca, Maryland. He is the son of W.M. Kiplinger, the founder of Kiplinger Washington Editors.

The younger Kiplinger's journalistic career began with some work for the Kiplinger Washington Letter in high school. He attended Cornell University, where he gained prominence in leading a movement seeking to make ROTC voluntary. He worked as a reporter for the Ithaca Journal, and was active in the Delta Upsilon fraternity and the Quill and Dagger society.

Following his graduation in 1939, Kiplinger became a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He took leave to serve as a naval aviator in the Pacific during World War II. In December 1944 he married Mary Louise "Gogo" Cobb of Bronxville, New York shortly before returning to Chevy Chase, Maryland work in 1946 for Kiplinger Washington Editors, and to co-found The Kiplinger Magazine, later Changing Times, the following year.

In 1948 he moved to Chicago to write a column for the Chicago Journal of Commerce. He became a political commentator for ABC (WBKB-TV) in 1951, when television news was in its infancy, before moving to NBC (WNBQ) in 1955. While in Chicago he hosted the first TV show on business news.

In 1956 he returned to Kiplinger Washington Editors and Changing Times, today known as Kiplinger's Personal Finance. In 1961, he succeeded his father as editor-in-chief. Kiplinger's Personal Finance, now edited by Austin's son Knight, is now the longest continually published personal finance publication in the United States. His other son, Todd, is vice chair of the board.

In addition to his journalism career, Austin Kiplinger followed his father’s lead as a collector of Washingtoniana. He championed the creation of a city museum for the District of Columbia.

Kiplinger is chairman emeritus of the Cornell University Board of Trustees and a trustee of the Tudor Place Foundation, the Federal City Council, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the National Press Foundation.