Lee Zhito; Editor, Publisher of Billboard Magazine

Lee Zhito, 77, who rose from reporter to editor in chief and publisher of Billboard magazine. Zhito joined the weekly music trade publication as a reporter in 1945 and in the next half a century rose to West Coast bureau chief, editor and, in 1974, publisher. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Zhito was brought up in St. Louis and was educated at the University of Missouri. In the late 1940s, he won the American Business Press’ Jesse H. Neal Award for an exclusive series of articles he wrote uncovering an anti-Roosevelt defamation campaign by a prominent radio executive. As an executive, Zhito was among the first to recognize the potential of the international music market and launched two foreign language editions of Billboard: Billboard Benelux and Billboard en Espanol. He also led development of the Billboard Information Network and co-founded the Billboard Song Contest to encourage beginning songwriters. On Dec. 8 in Santa Monica after being struck by a car.