The founding editor of The Washington Monthly magazine, Charles Peters, has died at 96

WASHINGTON — Charles Peters, founder and editor-in-chief of The Washington Monthly and editor-in-chief for thirty years, died Thursday at the age of 96.

In confirming his death at his home in Washington, the magazine reported that Peters had been in declining health for several years, mainly due to congestive heart failure.

Born in Charleston, West Virginia, Peters brought an influential neoliberal voice to the politics of his day, challenging both left and right in political circles divided along these ideological lines. From 1969 to 2000 he was editor of the magazine.

Author and journalist James Fallows, who began his career at the magazine, told readers about Peters’ death on the magazine’s website.

“He matters in the ideals he set for his country,” Fallows wrote. “That it must be patriotic but not jingoistic, that it can respect the military without being pro-war, that it can celebrate ambition and entrepreneurship without forgetting those left behind, that it must be skeptical of government failure precisely because effective governance is so crucial to America’s success.”

He said Peters’ wife, Beth, had cared for him with hospice support in the same Washington home where they had lived since coming to the capital in 1961.