Bill Garrett Sometimes you meet somebody who changes your life. A lead character in the play of your adventures. A like minded soul who gets you, identifies with you,and flips a life…
Sometimes you meet somebody who changes your life. A lead character in the play of your adventures. A like minded soul who gets you, identifies with you,and flips a life switch.
Such a man for me was W.E. “Bill” Garrett who passed on this week to the land of editor photographers who will never be forgotten. Bill brought me into National Geographic Magazine when I was 29. This changed my life forever
I witnessed and was affected by the turbulence of his abrupt exit as one of 11 members of the “Futures Committee”—the “young Turks,” as we were known— commissioned to produce a “Report to the Editor.” We had been asked to provide a blueprint for the magazine in coming decades, identify weaknesses, inefficiencies, and propose solutions; in short, our mission was “to turn an elephant into a jaguar.” Garrett was fired a week after the report was published. Some of the staff blamed us.
