Jane Nickerson

Jane Nickerson (May 19, 1916 – February 27, 2000) was an American food writer, newspaper editor, cookbook editor, and restaurant critic. She created the position of food editor at The New York Times and was instrumental in the professional development of James Beard and Craig Claiborne. She is broadly considered to have been widely influential in the modernization of food journalism. Early life Nickerson was born May 19, 1916 in Manhattan. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1938. Career After graduating from Radcliffe, Nickerson started working for Ladies Home Journal as an editorial assistant in 1939. She worked for The Saturday Evening Post before moving to The New York Times. Nickerson was the first food editor and restaurant critic for the Times, filling the role from 1942 to 1957.