Editing Neil Postman (section)

==Biography==
Postman was born to a [[American Jews|Jewish]] family<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zaretsky |first=Robert |date=2024-10-01 |title=A Jewish prophet of the 1980s would be horrified to see that we didn't heed his warnings |url=https://forward.com/culture/659406/neil-postman-amusing-ourselves-to-death-40th-anniversary-jewish-prophet/ |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref> in New York City, where he spent most of his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thevillager.com/villager_28/ateacherslife.html|title=A teacher's life: Remembering Neil Postman|work=The Villager|access-date=November 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018193853/http://thevillager.com/villager_28/ateacherslife.html|archive-date=October 18, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1953, he graduated from the [[State University of New York at Fredonia]] and enlisted in the military but was released less than five months later.<ref name=":1">{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Neil-Postman#ref1198654|encyclopedia=Britannica|title=Neil Postman|date=October 2023 }}</ref> At [[Teachers College, Columbia University]], he was awarded a master's degree in 1955 and an [[Doctor of Education|Ed.D.]] (Doctor of Education) degree in 1958.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news|author=Wolfgang Saxon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/09/obituaries/09POST.html|work=New York Times|title=Neil Postman, 72, Mass Media Critic, Dies|date=October 9, 2003|accessdate=January 8, 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Postman took a position with [[San Francisco State University]]'s English Department in 1958.<ref name=":1"/> Soon after, in 1959, he began teaching at [[New York University]] (NYU).<ref name="nytobit" />

In 1971, at NYU's [[Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development|Steinhardt School of Education]], he founded a graduate program in [[media ecology]]. He became the School of Education's only University Professor in 1993, and was chairman of the Department of Culture and Communication until 2002.<ref name="nytobit" />

Postman received an honorary doctorate from Brigham Young University in 2000. <ref>[https://www.deseret.com/2000/8/8/19522577/2-682-to-get-degrees-at-byu/ 2,682 to get degrees at BYU], ''[[Deseret News]]''. August 8, 2000.</ref>

Postman died at age 72 of lung cancer at a hospital in [[Flushing, Queens]], on October 5, 2003. At the time, he had been married to his wife, Shelley Ross Postman, for 48 years. They had three children and were longtime residents of Flushing.<ref name = nytobit/>