Background
Devine was born in the South Island city of Blenheim and started his career there aged 17 as a cadet on the Marlborough Express.
Devine was born in the South Island city of Blenheim and started his career there aged 17 as a cadet on the Marlborough Express.
In 1953, Devine worked for West Australian Newspapers in Perth, contributing to the Western Mail. He later worked as a foreign correspondent in New York, London and Tokyo before returning to Perth as editor of the Weekend News in 1970. In 1971, he was appointed editor-in-chief of Australian Reader"s Digest.
After ten years, he transferred to a senior editorial position at the Digest in New New York
Remaining in the United States, Devine was appointed editor at the Chicago Sun-Times by Rupert Murdoch. In 1986, he left Chicago to take on the role of editor at the New York Post.
In later life, Devine was a columnist and editor of The Australian. He contributed a monthly column for Quadrant from 2002 to 2009.
He prepared a collection of these columns, Older and Wiser, just before he died.
The eldest, Miranda Devine, has been a columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph.