As Deputies Go, You Can't Do Much Better Than This   

Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. calls it "a magnificent first personnel move," and how much better could incoming New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Lelyveld have done than to snag old friend Eugene L. Roberts Jr. as his deputy? Roberts, who left the hiladelphia Inquirer îin 1991 to become a University of Maryland journalism professor after leading the paper to 17 Pulitzers in 18 years, takes over as Times managing editor beginning July 1. Lelyveld, meanwhile, leaves that position to succeed the retiring Max Frankel , who will write a media column. Jim Naughton, ý 16-year Inky veteran who is now its number three editor, predicts Roberts will likely be a mentor to Lelyveld and the staff rather than any kind of tinkerer. "They're getting someone who, when he does speak between his deep silences, will do so in a way that people will smack their foreheads and say, 'Why didn't I think of that?' " Naughton says. "The Times has become a much more readable paper under Frankel and Lelyveld, and I doubt if Gene would want to change that." Roberts will have three years at the Times before facing the 65-and-out rule for managers; Lelyveld, 57, can plan on eight. ( USA Today noted wryly that the Times "buried the lead" in its coverage, heralding Lelyveld's expected ascension before mentioning Roberts' surprise appointment.) Although the Times has a reputation for promoting its own, Roberts doesn't arrive as a complete outsider: He spent seven years as a correspondent and then national editor there before taking the Inquirer job in 1972. He takes a three-year leave from Maryland and as senior editor of AJR , which is published by the College of Journalism.