Philadelphia Magazine editor steps down

Larry Platt, the high-profile and irreverent editor of Philadelphia Magazine, stepped down Friday, after a "difficult" meeting with the magazine's owners.

Both sides declined to specify what led to his ouster. The magazine's president, David H. Lipson Jr., said Platt's departure "happened kind of fast" and said "not one thing" had been at issue.

Platt e-mailed his staff to describe a meeting Thursday with Lipson and his father, the magazine's chairman, D. Herbert Lipson. Platt wrote that "it became clear to me that my time here at Philly [Mag] has run its course."

Platt, whose departure comes two months before his contract was to expire, wrote that he would return to his passion: "No, not mime - writing. After two years of nonstop business meetings, I'm actually looking forward to telling stories again." He said he did not announce the departure in person, because "I hate being all visibly emotional."

Reached at his home in Ardmore, he declined to comment further.

Sources inside the magazine, requesting anonymity, said they believed that Platt's ouster was unrelated to the publication of a controversial story this week about Gov. Rendell's marriage.

Tom McGrath, executive editor since 2005, was named interim editor. McGrath and Platt are 46.

Platt's tenure was marked by making the finals in 2007 and 2008 for National Magazine Awards, and for eyebrow-raising antics, including an aborted run for Congress and a goodbye gift to a female food editor: a photo of a cyst removed from one of his testicles.

A longtime sports writer, Platt was fresh off the publication of his Allen Iverson biography when he was hired in 2002 with no editing experience. His predecessors, Loren Feldman and Stephen Fried, each headed the masthead for less than two years.

After taking the top job, Platt told an interviewer the Lipsons were "difficult to deal with. But they're difficult because they are so passionate about this baby of theirs. They want others to share in that passion."

He also said: "I'm someone who's never done anything I didn't want to do. The minute it becomes not fun, I can just come back here to my office in my house where I can write in my boxer shorts."

Victor Fiorillo Jr., the research editor, said Platt was "a great and crazy boss," who "he turned the magazine around" in commissioning attention-getting articles.

Over Platt's tenure, Philadelphia's paid monthly circulation dropped 20 percent, from 142,808 in late 2002 to 114,908 in late 2009, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Platt, also oversaw editorial operations for the Lipson-controlled Boston magazine, shuttling by Amtrak between the cities for a year.

Last year, Metrocorp ordered one-week furloughs for Philadelphia and Boston Magazine workers and trimmed salaries among its management. At the time, Platt said he took a 10 percent cut.