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Editor of Proceedings magazine fired

Clarification

This story updates a previous Web version to clarify that two fundraisers were laid off by the U.S. Naval Institute. The institute does not plan to refill the two positions.

The U.S. Naval Institute, the publisher of Proceedings magazine, has fired its well-known editor, author Robert Timberg.

Timberg, a former reporter, spent three years at the helm of Proceedings, a forum for military thinkers for more than a century. He is the author of several books about naval history, including “The Nightingale’s Song” and a biography of Sen. John McCain.

The firing comes at a time of financial trouble for the institute, which saw its revenue fall $2 million short of expenses in 2007 and its endowment — once more than $14 million — threatened by the falling stock market.

Timberg was fired Wednesday after a personal dispute with others at the Annapolis, Md.-based not-for-profit organization, according to a source close to the group.

Timberg did not returned calls for comment.

Chas Henry, the institute’s communications director, confirmed that Timberg’s employment was terminated, but declined to say why. Henry said in a telephone interview that it was “too early to speculate” about who would become the new editor of Proceedings.

A 1964 graduate of the Naval Academy, Timberg is a former Marine and worked as a White House correspondent for the Baltimore Sun in the 1980s.

Besides the magazine, the Naval Institute also publishes books about the Navy and organizes conferences on issues relating to national security.

At least two people from the institute’s fundraising department were also recently laid off, the source said.

Timberg’s firing was unrelated to the institute’s ongoing financial problems, the source said.

The problems were intensified by the steep drop in global stock prices this year. On Wednesday, the institute sent out a rare mass e-mail fundraising solicitation to its members and donors, urging them to send “a gift of any amount.”

In 2007, the institute had more than $14 million in stocks and bonds that helped generate $781,278 in annual income. The investment income helped cover the institute’s roughly $13 million in annual expenditures, according to the institute’s 2007 financial statement.

That same year, the institute’s total revenues of roughly $11 million fell about $2 million short of total expenses, according to the financial statement.

The institute’s chief executive officer, retired Marine Maj. Gen. Tom Wilkerson, did not return a call for comment.

The institute has several employees making annual salaries ranging from $99,000 to $116,692, according to its most recent 990 Forms, a tax document that not-for-profits are required to disclose.

Eleven members on the board of directors were paid annual compensation ranging from $5,400 to $450, 2006 records show.

The institute sold a piece of property for more than $7 million in 2006, records show.