---
aliases:
- Leon Jaroff
born: 1927-02-27
category: Skeptics & Critics
died: 2012-10-20
location: Detroit, Michigan
summary: Leon Jaroff was a senior editor at *Time* magazine.
tags:
- Person
- Skeptic
- Magician
---

Leon Jaroff was a senior editor at *Time* magazine. He is known for his article, "The Magician and the Think Tank," published on March 12, 1973, which reported on [Uri Geller](/people/uri-geller/)'s testing at [SRI](/organizations/stanford-research-institute/) and the controversy surrounding it[^1].

Jaroff's article was influenced by [George Lawrence](/people/george-lawrence/), an [DARPA](/organizations/darpa/) project manager, who told Jaroff that Geller was a "charlatan" and encouraged the magazine to write an exposé. Lawrence's unauthorized communication with a reporter was a violation of his security clearance, leading to an investigation by the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/)[^1].

Jaroff's reporting contributed to the public debate and skepticism surrounding Geller's abilities and the government's involvement in [ESP](/concepts/extrasensory-perception/) research[^1].

[^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.