Edwin Self created the nation's first modern, independent city magazine, San Diego. He and his wife, Gloria Winke Self, a former San Diego editor, set the standard for the concept of the critical city magazine, unlike promotional chamber-of-commerce--type publications. Under Self's tutelage, San Diego gained notoriety for emphasis on civic improvement and political consciousness. A staff of specialists in such areas as art and architecture, the environment, and local history, along with an emphasis on high-quality graphics and photography, set the magazine apart and made it a prototype publication during the postwar period, one of tremendous growth in San Diego.

The son of Robert Self and Agnes Wilson Self, Edwin Forbes Self was born in Dundee, Scotland, immigrated with his family to the United States the year after his birth, and was naturalized as a citizen twenty years later. As a high-school student Self won first prize in...