Jonathan Friendly was born in 1939 and raised in Washington, DC, the second son of Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Friendly of The Washington Post. He graduated from Amherst College (B.A., English) in 1960 and worked as a reporter and editor at the Raleigh News and Observer, Minneapolis Tribune and The New York Times. In 1988 he became director of the Masters Journalism Program at the University of Michigan, serving until 1996. Subsequently he worked for the Detroit Jewish News and Jewish Renaissance Media until his retirement in 2005. In addition to being chairman of the board of the Alfred and Jean Friendly Foundation in Washington, he is also a member of the board of the Lake Charlevoix Association, which seeks to protect the lake from environmental degradation. He and Lynn, his wife of 48 years, have four children. They live in Bradenton, FL and Charlevoix, MI. He is a tennis and bridge player and enjoys opera and other classical music.