When Sanford became president of the American Home Publishing Company, the company had recently been acquired by the
Charter Company, headed by
Raymond K. Mason.
New York Times columnist Philip H. Dougherty reported in his “Advertising” column that Sanford had little experience in magazine publishing. Before her
American Home installation, Sanford had been a design major at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She had served as editor of the
trade publication Teens & Boys Outfitter for three years and also was editor of the publication
Mens Wear for three years. At
American Home, Sanford led a controversial
feminism-driven
repositioning. Sanford replaced roughly half of the
American Home staff (newspapers said she had started to “clean house”). The goal was to appeal to newly liberated women and save the magazine, which the
Los Angeles Times reported as “financially ailing.”
American Home reported slight gains in 1976, but in 1977 the Charter Company announced the magazine would be combined into its magazine
Redbook. In March 1978 Sanford joined
Chief Executive magazine as associate publisher and editor. Sanford became publisher and editor-in-chief of
entrepreneur Jeno Paulucci’s magazine for Italian-Americans,
Attenzione, in 1979. The magazine was sold to Adam Publications in 1982, after Sanford made an unsuccessful attempt to raise money to buy the magazine herself. She was appointed to publisher of
Bon Appétit magazine in May 1982. It was a short stint, and Sanford resigned from her position in March 1983. In 1983 Sanford was appointed editorial director of the new magazine
Living Anew — The Magazine for Living on your Own. In 1986 Sanford became publisher of the U.S. edition of
FMR magazine, Italian publisher
Franco Maria Ricci's upscale art and culture review. In March 1990 she became advertising director of Maturity Magazines Group, the New York office of Modern Maturity. In 2003, the company’s bi-monthly magazine
Modern Maturity was renamed
AARP The Magazine. Keeping her focus on the aging, she spent nine years (beginning in 1992) as vice president and senior editorial director of the targeted marketing division at the Age Wave Communications Corporation in
Emeryville,
California. Sanford was involved in the creation of the magazine “Get Up and Go!” The publication's target audience, women aged 40 to 50, was part of company’s focus on how the boomer wave will change aging in America. Leda Sanford has two children and two grandchildren. She resides in
Mill Valley, California. ==References==