of The New York Times Syndicate set the framework for publishing a joint column by Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the USSR, and Ranan Lurie. In the column, Gorbachev wrote his opinion about world politics (issues like the Persian Gulf War and future of Communism) and Lurie added a caricature giving a different opinion, Lurie's counterpoint. The joint column was published for some years in more than 100 newspapers worldwide, including The New York Times. At the beginning of 1996 Lurie created "Cartoon News", an educational magazine that taught current events by introducing mainly political cartoons supported by very short texts. Lurie, the editor in chief had about 60 cartoonists from all over the world working for it. The readership reached 600,000 within a short time. About a year later, at the recommendation of the American Ambassador to Egypt, Ned Walker, President Hosni Mubarak together with the publishers of "Al-Ahram" offered Lurie to publish his cartoons in "Al-Ahram" and print an Egyptian version of his "Cartoon News" in Arabic. Lurie was a member of Mensa. The United Nations/RANAN LURIE Political Cartoon Awards were created by former Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2000 and continued by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The award recognizes cartoons that "enhance, explain and help direct the spirit and principles of the U.N." The three first awards are worth a total of $18,000 and are distributed along with ten recognition plaques signed by the Secretary-General and Ranan Lurie. On May 28, 1997, a plaza in Seoul, South Korea was named after Ranan Lurie, who has also received the "golden key to the city". Lurie was nominated by the Republic of Cyprus for the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, signed on March 14, 2002, by Glafcos Clerides, the President of the Republic. Family He is the father of Rod Lurie, a West Point graduate who is a film director and screenwriter. His son Barak Lurie is a Stanford graduate and the Managing Partner of Lurie & Seltzer, a law firm headquartered in Los Angeles, also known for his radio show, "Lurie's Law"; His daughter Dr. Daphne Lurie is a Williams alumnus and the Directing Psychologist at the San Diego Scripps Research Institute. Danielle Lurie is a Stanford graduate and a movie director in New York. Lurie lived in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife, Tamar (Fletcher) Lurie, a real estate executive at Coldwell Banker, and on Central Park West in