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By Newsweek Editors
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Pettit came to NEWSWEEK in 1999 as the senior editor for the magazine's Arts & Entertainment section. In that position, she edited news reports, features, reviews and profiles in the fields of music, books, television, movies, theater, dance, architecture and the arts.
"We'll miss the intellectual honesty and moral passion that Sarah brought to so many of our discussions," wrote NEWSWEEK Editor Mark Whitaker and Executive Editor Dorothy Kalins in a memo to staff on Wednesday. "She had a voice that made us all better and more thoughtful about what we do."
Prior to joining NEWSWEEK, Pettit was editor in chief and vice president of Out Magazine, the nation's largest gay and lesbian publication, which she cofounded in 1992. She helped assemble the creative team that launched the monthly magazine and held the positions of executive editor and editor before assuming the role of editor in chief in 1996.
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A frequent lecturer, Pettit had been an advisory board member of the New York City Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project and served as a nominator for authors and other artists for the MacArthur Fellows Program in 1996. She was the recipient of several awards, including the Community Service Award from the Yale Alumni Association of New York and the Advocate's Award presented by the City of New York's Public Advocate for exemplary leadership, commitment and advocacy, both in 1997.
"Sarah led a remarkable life in her all too brief 36 years," the NEWSWEEK memo said. "She will be written about, rightly, for her activism. But as anyone who knew her could tell you, Sarah had many other dimensions: she could not only debate almost any political or social issue, but was phenomenally well-read and well-versed in the world of culture, from the high to the low."
Prior to Out, Pettit was the arts editor for the weekly news magazine OutWeek between 1989 and 1991. She began her career in 1988 as an assistant editor at St. Martin's Press, New York, and had also served as a guest editor at The Nation and as a freelance writer for various publications including Elle, Interior Design, New York Press and The Advocate. Pettit graduated from Yale University in 1988 with a B.A. in comparative literature in German and French.
"Although Sarah was very serious about her work, the one thing she never took too seriously was herself," Whitaker and Kalins noted. "She had a wicked sense of humor and joyous love of life, with all its quirks, that always made her wonderful company."
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