Oliver Jensen

Oliver Jensen is a founder and former editor of American Heritage magazine, died early yesterday morning in Chester, Conn. He was 91 and had lived in Old Saybrook, Conn., for many years. Mr. Jensen died in his sleep at an assisted-living facility, his stepdaughter, Penelope Hargrove, said. With Joseph Thorndike and James Parton, Mr. Jensen founded American Heritage in 1954. The three men, all former staff members at Life magazine, aimed to create a general-interest publication that presented American history in the accessible style of popular newsmagazines. Today, American Heritage, which is published every other month, has a circulation of 340,000. The magazine is part of the American Heritage Publishing Company, a division of Forbes Inc., whose other magazines include American Legacy and Invention and Technology.