He was President of the Overseas Press Club of America from 2000 to 2002, and served as co-chairman of its Freedom of the Press Committee. After graduation from Dartmouth College and a year at the University of Edinburgh on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship, Martz worked in daily journalism at The Pontiac (Michigan) Press, The Detroit News and The Wall Street Journal. He joined Newsweek in 1961 as a writer. His honors include the J.C. Penney/University of Missouri award for business writing and the Silver Gavel Award of the American Bar Association, and he was one of three Newsweek writers whose special report, “The Negro in America: What Must Be Done,” won the National Magazine Award in 1968 (a year when only one magazine was singled out for excellence). He served as national affairs editor through the Watergate scandal, overseeing 36 cover stories on the crisis culminating in the resignation and pardon of President Richard Nixon. As assistant managing editor he supervised most major sections of the magazine and took on several special assignments, including the supervision of Newsweek on Campus in its first year of publication.
As editor of Newsweek International, Martz ran the three overseas editions of the magazine, which won three OPC awards during his tenure. Returning to the domestic magazine as an editor at large, he wrote cover stories on national affairs, business and the economy, international affairs, religion, science, and education. He also wrote two books, “Ministry of Greed” (with Ginny Carroll) and “Making Schools Better.” He joined World Press Review, a monthly digest of international news and views, as editor in 1993 and retired in 1999. He now writes and edits as a freelancer.