Jane Harman, a former US Representative and Sidney Harman’s widow, is set to make her first public appearance since assuming her late husband’s seat on the board of Newsweek Daily Beast Co. tonight at the Deadline Club’s annual awards dinner at the Waldorf Astoria.
She is slated to introduce Tina Brown, the editor-in-chief of Newsweek Daily Beast and the keynote speaker at the event, which is being hosted by the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. (Disclosure: This columnist will be doing a question-and-answer session with Brown at the dinner.)
Sidney Harman purchased Newsweek for $1 from Washington Post Co. last fall and merged it into a joint venture with Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, the parent of the Daily Beast, earlier this year.
Harman died of complications related to leukemia in April without naming any additional members to the venture’s board. That left Diller as the only board member until Jane Harman assumed her husband’s seat 10 days after his death.
The 92-year-old stereo equipment mogul founded the company that became Harman International Industries in the 1950s, amassing a personal fortune in the process.
When Harman originally emerged as a suitor, he had said that his wife — at the time a Democratic US Representative for California — would not be involved in the running of the magazine to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
However, she resigned shortly after being re-elected and is currently president and chief executive of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Washington DC-based think tank.
After announcing she would join the board seat, Jane Harman said, “Our family will remain actively engaged and totally committed to the success of this enterprise.” Tonight’s event marks her official coming out in that role.