Lorimer, George Horace (1868–1937)

US editor. In 1898, he was appointed by Cyrus H K Curtis as literary editor of Curtis's newly acquired Saturday Evening Post. He was soon promoted to editor-in-chief. Aided by a solid instinct for public taste, he succeeded in reaching a broad audience that, at the peak of the Post's popularity, exceeded 3 million people. His editorials reflected a basically conservative view, and his vision of America was typified in the popular, wholesome periodical's covers, especially those drawn by Norman Rockwell.

Lorimer was born in Louisville, Kentucky. After early success in a meat-packing company, he experienced failure as a retail grocer, and turned to reporting. In his long tenure at the Post (1899–1936), he attracted such talented contributors as Mary Roberts Rinehart, Ring Lardner, Sinclair Lewis, Kenneth Roberts, and John P Marquand. Lorimer thought himself closely in tune with the American public and was dismayed toward the end of his career by the popularity of New Deal policies.