Q & A: Maxwell King

What are you working on?

I'm working on two things now:

I'm beginning research for a biography of Fred Rogers. I spent two years after retiring from The Heinz Endowments helping the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media start new programs, build alliances, and raise funds; and during that time I formed a strong belief in the great, lasting value of Fred's work. Now I'm a senior fellow at the center--part of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe--focusing just on the biography. It's a daunting job, and I'm humbled by it.

And I'm working on getting the word out, through poetry readings and other communications, about my new book of poetry, Crossing Laurel Run, just published by Autumn House Press. It's a very small, modest work, but I'm greatly honored that Autumn House, which has become a strong literary institution in Pittsburgh, has taken it on. By the way--and here's the shameless-self-promotion part--you can get it from Amazon.com for just eight bucks.

If you could change one thing about Pittsburgh, what would it be?

I'd ratchet down Pittsburgh's resistance to change. Pittsburgh is such a great region—and it has made itself great through its relentless capacity for innovation and creativity--but it has, in recent years, blunted the power of its greatness by resisting change. With all its fabulous attributes--and the intellectual power of its eds-and-meds institutions--it should embrace the pace of its own organic change.

What are you most curious about these days?

What on earth happened to America's capacity for collaboration? We used to be the most collaborative and cooperative society there could be, but now we just fight with each other. All that ability to work together has been lost in ideological street fighting. Why?

If you had $10 million dollars to give to Pittsburgh, what would you do with it?

That's easy: I'd provide an endowment for the Fred Rogers Center. Everyone of us in western Pennsylvania has a big stake in his legacy and his important message for children and parents around the world. Nothing would be more important, I think, than fueling the center's work on behalf of his great values.

What's your favorite possession, big or small?

It's a toss-up between my bicycle and my rowing shell; I love them both.

Favorite thing to do?

Work on the farm that I share with my wife, Peggy, and our two dogs, Finn and Cora. We all work hard--some of us cutting firewood and gardening, some of us chasing squirrels and chipmunks.

What period of you life would you like to live over?

My twenties. I had so much energy and I didn't know a damn thing. If I could just couple that energy with a little bit of wisdom from my sixties . . .

What is the reason you wake up in the morning?

Family: my wife, our two sons and their wives,  and our three grandsons.

Do you have a motto?

Veritas--the motto of my college.

What public figure do you most admire?

Martin Luther King, Jr. He showed how peace, love and political change can work together.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Rowing across the bay in front of our cottage on Nantucket.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Buying boats. I just bought a new kayak and I'm angling for a new rowing shell.

What is your current state of mind?

I've never been happier, or more at peace with myself, my family and my work.

What is your preferred state of mind?

Right here, right now, in the present.

What do you most value in your friends?

Honesty. There's  nothing so bracing as a good discussion among friends who are willing to be absolutely straight and honest.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

My wife, Peggy. None of the great things in my very full life would have been possible without our partnership.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Steering The Philadelphia Inquirer through most of a very turbulent decade in the 1990s. The newspaper business was already beginning to come apart, and I'm proud that we (a heroic crew of great writers and editors) managed to keep the paper pretty much on point. It had been one of the greatest papers ever under my predecessor as editor, Gene Roberts, and we managed to keep it pretty true to his model.

Who are your favorite writers?
e. e. cummings and Evelyn Waugh. They each had such an exquisite sense of irony.


Photographs copyright Brian Cohen