Individual Details

San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, California, Saturday, February 17, 2001: A memorial service will be held Feb. 24 in Inverness for Dwight Whitney, a former journalist with The Chronicle, Time magazine and TV Guide. Mr. Whitney died Monday at Marin Convalescent Hospital after a long illness. He was 82.

Mr. Whitney started at The Chronicle in 1939 as a copy boy earning $16 a week, but he impressed editors and quickly rose to become a reporter, drama critic and editor of the Women's Page. An article he wrote about actress Joan Fontaine caught the attention of Time magazine, which appointed him Hollywood correspondent in 1943. He stayed with Time until 1949. He worked for Colliers magazine and held various freelance jobs before TV Guide named him West Coast bureau chief in 1962. He stayed in that position until his retirement in 1983. Mr. Whitney was born on Jan. 7, 1919, in Hartford, Conn. His parents named him after his great-uncle, Josiah Dwight Whitney, the California geologist for whom Mount Whitney is named.

Mr. Whitney's father died when he was 7, and his mother took her young son to Beloit, Wis., where she had met her husband. She later became dean of women at Beloit College, which Mr. Whitney attended for three years, although he never received a degree. His daughter, Leslie Whitney, said school administrators believed that he was spending too much time working on the student newspaper.

Mr. Whitney is survived by a son, Josh Whitney of Idlewild (Riverside County); daughters, Katherine Lendech of Oregon House (Yuba County), Leslie Whitney of Los Angeles and Beth Whitney of Orange County; stepsons Phillip McArthur of Cambridge, Mass., and Andrew McArthur of Boulder, Colo.; stepdaughters, Ruth McArthur of San Francisco and Sarah McArthur of San Rafael; and nine grandchildren. The memorial will be held in Inverness at the home of his cousin, Deborah Whitney. Friends of Mr. Whitney are asked to call (415) 386-1086 for more information.

Birth	7 Jan 1919	Connecticut
Residence	1920	Hartford Ward 9, Hartford Co., Connecticut
Marriage	26 Jun 1963	Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California - Julia Woods Dennis
Residence	1989	San Francisco, San Francisco Co., California
Death	12 Feb 2001	Oregon House, Yuba Co., California
Burial		Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., California

Spouse

Julia Woods Dennis (1930 - 1997)