Society of the Silurians EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS BANQUET The Players Club Wednesday, May 18, 2016 Drinks: 6 P.M. Dinner: 7:15 P.M. Meet old friends and award winners Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization (212) 532-0887 Members and One Guest $100 each of veteran City journalists founded in 1924 Non-Members $120

MAY 2016 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best sterling list of winners highlights the Society of Athe Silurians Excellence in Journalism Awards for coverage in 2015. In addition to two special citations —the Peter Kihss and Dennis Duggan awards — this year brought 85 submissions from print, broadcast and online media in 18 revised categories. Top awards for breaking news, features, and investigative reporting went to The Wall Street Journal and . Winning Medallions and Merit Award certificates will be presented at the Awards Dinner May 18 at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South. For the esteemed Peter Kihss Award, honoring The New York Times reporter who exemplified the highest ideals of dogged journalism and mentorship, the Silurians named Daniel Sforza, of The Record in Bergen County. Sforza, who groomed countless other prize-winners over the years, was the former transportation reporter who first broke the news, in a On Feb. 3, 2015, a Journal News photo assistant, Albert Conte, who is also a volunteer fire fighter, responded web posting, that Capt. Chesley (Sully) to a report of a commuter train hitting a car in Valhalla. He helped rescue commuters and also used his iPhone Sullenberger III landed a distressed plane to shoot photographs and video. Staff photographers soon joined him. Their series of photos won the Journal on the Hudson River in 2009, saving all News the medallion for Breaking News Photography. Another of their photos appears on page 3. on board. (Kihss, a 30-year-veteran of The Times, died in 1984 at 72.) Daily News. (Duggan, whose columns Andrew Tangel Andrew Grossman The Dennis Duggan Memorial celebrated New Yorkers over six decades A wide-ranging tour de force of the From its comprehensive lead, it Scholarship Award, given annually to a in five , died in 2006 at 78.) crash and its after-effects. It is old- details an intriguing timeline that student at the CUNY Graduate School Here is a list of all winners: fashioned journalism at its best, from often reads like a spy novel, with many of Journalism for exemplary coverage gathering quotes and information to government sources. of New Yorkers, was awarded to Megan , NEWS SERVICE recreating the horrific scene with a Feature News Cerullo of Heights, who AND ONLINE compelling narrative. Medallion The New York Times, profiled the Italian community in the Breaking News Merit Award Wall Street Journal, “The Lonely Death of George Bell” by Bronx, among other notable projects. Medallion Winner Wall Street “Brooklyn ISIS Plot” by Pervaiz N.R. Kleinfield She will intern this summer at The Journal, “Metro-North Crash” by Shallwani, Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Continued on Page 3

ceived his guidance as faculty advisor to reach a desired conclusion than to pres- In the Spirit the student newspaper. ent a conclusion myself.” That advice at times can be succinct, That approach may hold a clue to as one of his mentors, The Record’s why his role has spread from editor to Of Kihss new editor Deirdre Sykes, sums up: “be teacher to a mentor much in the spirit of BY MARTIN GOTTLIEB concise and laser-focused, don’t blather Peter Kihss. The reporters whose lives dd up the people who count when you’ve made your point.” It can he’s touched say that he’s helped them this year’s Peter Kihss Award also come in lengthy discussions about see themselves and trust themselves. Awinner, Dan Sforza, as a stories or be transmitted in the course of That’s often helped them produce their mentor and the numbers probably grow the personal kindnesses that have helped finest work. from the dozens to the scores and may- imbue the Record newsroom with a spe- “Dan’s even keel, his humor, and his be even tip into triple figures — not bad cial collegiality. In the aftermath of Su- chronic reliability have a calming ef- for someone who at 45 is a mere pup in perstorm Sandy, when a lot of the staff fect that gives reporters the confidence Silurian years. had no heat or electricity in their homes, to do their best work,” observed Shawn The evidence is there everyday at The Dan was the one who brought in his cof- Boburg, who benefited from Sforza’s fee maker and pods of coffee, tea and Record of North Jersey — known more Dan Sforza guidance and as he broke open familiarly as the Bergen Record. There cocoa. He deep fries turkeys in the park- the George Washington Bridge scan- reporters congregate at his desk in some moted to managing editor in January. ing lot every New Year’s for the work- dal and landed two years of sensational mix of bakery line and kaffeeklatsch, It’s also there in the front-page stories ing staff and he chats up his troops when scoops exposing systemic dysfunction bantering and awaiting instruction, cor- of the interns he invariably takes an in- they come by for a helping. at the Port Authority. rection and hoped-for pats on the back terest in and hears from over the years, “It’s better to ask questions and lis- Chris Maag, a lyrical narrative writ- from an estimable former reporter who and at Ramapo College in Mahwah, ten, rather than to spout out pearls of er, recalls fretting about whether he served as deputy assignment desk direc- where hundreds of students have taken wisdom,” he said recently. “I find it’s could mesh his talents with his new tor for a dozen years before being pro- his journalism classes since 1995 and re- much more effective to help someone Continued on Page 2 PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2016 President’s Report In the Spirit BY BETSY ASHTON Hello and Happy Spring to all. Of Kihss am delighted to announce that our board of governors has voted to Continued from Page 1 I grant two scholarships of $2,000 news-driven transportation beat. He each to worthy graduate students in jour- presented Dan with a deep spreadsheet nalism for this coming fall. One will go of ideas and asked which he should at- to the NYU Graduate School of Journal- ism program for Culture and Arts Re- tack. porting and will be the first scholarship “Dan was quiet for a few seconds,” designated for students in this program. I he recalls. “Then he said, ‘Just find sto- am even more thrilled to report that NYU ries that people want to read.’ decided to match the Silurians’ donation “That was the end of the meeting.” and make ours a $4,000 scholarship! Chris grasped Dan’s intent. “Behind The second $2,000 Silurians’ scholarship their message was the way he said it,” will go to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and we are hoping that he remembers, “a manner which seemed CUNY will also match the amount. The to say, ‘Calm down. You’re doing fine. scholarships were the first project to come Don’t worry too much about it, and just out of the board’s new Future Committee, do the work.’” chaired by former president Allan Dodds Sean Oates, who runs The Record’s Frank with Ben Patrusky, Carol Lawson, digital news operation, northjersey. Mitsu Yasukawa / Staff Photographer David Andelman and Gerry Eskenazi com, first met Dan 18 years ago, when The Record’s reporter Rebecca O’Brien, who was one of the finalists in participating. The Future Committee was he enrolled in the student newspaper established to consider worthwhile new 2014 for the Pulitzer Prize in the local reporting category, is celebrated initiatives for the society. These schol- class at Ramapo, just intending to fulfill by her editor Dan Sforza. arships may be continued, expanded or a course requirement. As the semesters increased in coming years, as our funds progressed, he says, “he stealthily add- dividual — the great circle of newsroom when he was promoted from town cov- permit. Given that college tuition now ed more to my plate, pushing me into life a few miles over the bridge. erage to junior transportation reporter. runs in the tens of thousands of dollars, more serious assignments, nudging me When I was at The Times awhile The senior transportation writer was a this is a worthy project, indeed! into leadership moments.” ago, a colleague, Ron Wertheimer, who buoyant, revered, tough-minded report- At the end of his junior year, while worked with me in Hackensack in the er named Pat Gilbert, who succumbed ANOTHER HELPING HAND Sean still embraced the role of “un- early 70s, counted 44 alumni on the staff. to cancer when she was only 45. Many members may not be aware that we have a fund that can provide help to der-the-radar kid,” Dan named him ed- That was more than an incredible num- Deirdre recalls how Gilbert shared fellow Silurians who are in financial itor-in-chief. ber on its own; it was reflective of the with Dan “her insights, her secrets of need. Any such requests to the Silurians “Had I fooled my hard-nosed report- enormous contribution of Record mento- the trade, her strict code of ethics, her Contingency Fund are held in strictest er/adjunct professor into thinking I was ring to the profession, which is populat- belief that hard work was at the root of confidence. Its members have taken on capable of leading the paper?” Sean ed coast-to-coast by talented journalists all good stories, her knack for turning a the volunteer jobs of being, well, angels. wondered. “Or had Dan already tricked who emerged from what has long been hunch in a Page One news break. The board of governors has appointed me into becoming the leader I needed to an industry incubator. “Pat was devoted to Dan’s develop- Steve Marcus as chairman of the fund and Betsy Wade and George Arzt as new be for precisely this moment? The an- The mentoring also played a signifi- ment as a journalist; he became devoted members. Mark Lieberman continues swer, of course, is that Dan Sforza is not cant role in the biggest change I found in to her and her principles.” as a member. Contact any one of these so easily fooled. And it was time to stop the newsroom on my return—a substan- One lesson Dan learned was to focus people if you need some help or know of doubting myself.” tial, talented core staff that cut its teeth on seemingly insignificant details. On someone else who needs a bit of financial Having started my career at The Re- here and stayed to build distinguished one occasion, Gilbert took note of item assistance to get through a rough spot. cord 45 years ago under the tutelage careers, replete with Silurian awards. 27 on a New Jersey Turnpike Authority And please help me thank retiring board of Sue Servis Scilla, a mentor of the Dan grew up locally, in Teaneck and agenda. chairman Larry Friedman and Marty whirlwind variety, I feel a particular Ramsey, and later moved to River Edge It authorized the hiring of a morti- Steadman, Joy Cook and Nat Brandt for their years of service on the board of the gratification in Dan’s award. He was a when he married Allison. He dreamed cian. Contingency Fund. soul mate and go-to guy during my four of working at either The Record or The Behind it, Gilbert discovered, was a years as editor. He has a dream family Times and shortly after his college years plan to disinter more than 1,000 bodies CHANGES ON THE BOARD I’ve been fortunate to meet -- his wife, at Villanova University, he became, in from a Potter’s field to make way for an OF GOVERNORS Allison, and his delightful daughters, Deirdre Sykes’s description, “a green exit ramp to a new train station in Se- We have some upcoming changes on Lauren, 15, and Charlotte, 12 -- and journalist-in-training on the news clerks’ caucus. Front page! the Board of Governors for the mem- I know that for all his devotion to The desk.” From there, she recalls, “He Digging deep became part of their bership to approve at our June meeting. Ralph Blumenthal, who so ably co- Record, it pales beside his devotion to worked his way up the hard way, in fits daily routine. In a three-hour phone in- chaired our awards program this year, is them. and starts, learning as he went, deter- terview after 9/11, Gilbert and Sforza stepping down at the end of this season to But Dan also represents something mined to succeed. He would do anything. grilled two Port Authority executives do more writing, and to keep up with his deep in the Record’s DNA, and I can’t He ran out on assignments whenever the about their plans to the point of exhaus- fulltime position at Baruch College. Bar- help but see an acknowledgement of the desk ran out of bodies.” tion. “At the end, the pair were so flum- bara Lovenheim, who last year, helped institution in the recognition of the in- He found perhaps his greatest mentor Continued on Page 4 redesign our website and assisted this year with our Facebook page, is also re- tiring from the board. The board enthusi- astically nominated new Silurian Valerie S. Komor to fill one of those vacancies. From Brooklyn to the Bronx to the Duggan Award As the founding director of the AP’s cor- egan Cerullo is the winner industrial Brooklyn, where carpenters, porate archives, Valerie organized the of this year’s Dennis Dug- artists and engineers raced the clock to many thousands of documents that were gan prize, awarded annual- create the magic on 34th Street. A story in untended file cabinets in the basement M ly to a student at the CUNY Graduate on the city’s bike-lane expansion took of the AP headquarters so that they are now available to researchers. She also School of Journalism who excels at her to the Lower East Side, where some plans great events for the AP. covering ordinary New Yorkers. elderly residents see the new lanes as a At the J-School, the 30-year-old na- safety threat. A Marathon AND FINALLY tive of Brooklyn Heights chose a Bronx piece for the J-School’s NYC News Ser- I regret to inform you that I will be beat: the Belmont section that includes vice explored the runners’ struggles to stepping down as your president at the Arthur Avenue. “I wanted to profile the find places for bathroom breaks during end of June after what for me has been lingering community of Italians,” said the race. a wonderful year of working with all of you. I have very much enjoyed being Cerullo, who studied romance languag- “Although the J-School has a bumper your president, and originally planned to es as an undergraduate at Brown Uni- crop of people who have done good lo- serve the expected two-year term, but I versity. cal reporting,” said Tim Harper, one of am afraid it has caused me to neglect my Scooping the competition, she cov- Cerullo’s professors, “it’s hard to find business. If I don’t get into my studio, my ered for DNAinfo the threatened cancel- anyone who has done more good re- paintings don’t get done. And I have just lation of the Arthur Avenue Christmas porting -- and gotten more published -- signed with an agent to write a memoir, tree lighting, an event that draws a crowd Megan Cerullo about everyday people.” which is something else that now needs -- and brings shoppers to local merchants Before entering J-School, Cerullo my time and attention. I had no idea that I would be this busy with creative and fun -- every holiday season. (Subsequently, Cerullo says she was eager to write about was an intern at Condé Nast and a re- projects at this stage in my life. Neverthe- City Councilman Ritchie Torres came up the program because it democratizes porter at The Vineyard Gazette, where less, I will remain on the board of gover- with the funds to restore the tradition.) a sport traditionally played at “private she profiled local islanders as well as nors and you may even see me helping Another Bronx tale profiled a grad- clubs with membership fees or elite summer vacationers. She also free- to check you in at lunches next season. uate of the borough’s CitySquash pro- boarding schools and colleges.”) lanced for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and And you will have a fine new president in gram, a nonprofit that teaches the sport Looking beyond the Bronx, she found the Brooklyn-based Brownstoner. Bernie Kirsch. – and offers college-prep support – to lo- other “ordinary” stories. A holiday cur- Specializing in business and econom- tain-raiser for DNAinfo about Macy’s Thank you all for a great year! cal youngsters from low-income house- ics reporting at the J-School, she will in- holds. (A former varsity squash player, famous window displays took readers to tern this summer at The Daily News. MAY 2016 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3 The Silurians Celebrate Journalism At Its Best Continued from Page 1 In the daily blur of humanity that is New York, millions crowd the subways and sidewalks, offices, bars and apartments, yet people die often alone, unmourned. Sonny Kleinfield was curious about these solitary deaths. Who was this person and what became of all the stuff left behind? Sonny provided the answer in this epic narrative that riveted readers. Piecing together the clues like a detective story, he recreates the death and life of a both prototypical and entirely unique New Yorker. Merit , “The 7th Precinct vs. Jack Franqui” by Gus Garcia- Another in the series of photos of the Valhalla train crash by the Journal News staff that won the medallion Roberts for Breaking News Photography. When 26-year-old Jack Franqui, facing misdemeanor charges, hanged Merit Newsday, “Zombie stymied auditing reforms. attachment to “The Nutcracker,” which himself in a holding cell of the Suffolk Houses” by Denise M. Bonilla, Merit Financial Planning: “Deleted: began in his boyhood at the Mariinsky County Police Department on Jan. 23, Carl MacGowan, Maura McDermott FINRA Erases Broker Disciplinary Theatre in Russia. It also sheds light on 2013, the public was told little — and and Deon J. Hampton Records,” by Ann Marsh the creation of New York City Ballet, the almost all of it false. Combing through The Newsday team presented An in-depth investigation into the greatest ballet company in America, hundreds of pages of previously a compelling series on a facet of practices of the Financial Industry and its evolution from generation to unreported documents, Gus Garcia- the mortgage crisis that has been Regulatory Authority questions whether generation, always buoyed by the Roberts exposed Franqui’s disturbed underreported: an “epidemic of the self-regulatory agency properly protects dancers’ deep appreciation and affection history and desperate final hours as he blighted, abandoned houses” that has investors from abuses by brokers. for Balanchine. weepingly begged for medical attention seriously damaged neighborhoods Merit The Record, “The Chairman’s Medallion Vanity Fair, “Might at the and threatened suicide while officers and property values in many Flight” by Shawn Boburg Met” by Bob Colacello seated nearby ignored him and later communities on . The Relentless reporting uncovered the Written in advance of the opening of covered up their inaction. solid reportage, data analysis, and scandal surrounding a sweetheart deal the Met Breuer, a new branch of New Investigative and Public Service interactive map made for a powerful, between United Airlines and the Port York’s Metropolitan Museum, Bob Reporting original presentation that provided a Authority of New York and New Jersey that Colacello’s article is a deeply reported, Medallion The New York Times, valuable public service. led to the resignation of the airline’s CEO, sophisticated, and well-timed analysis “Profiting From Addiction” by Kim Sports Reporting the head of the Authority and New Jersey’s of the Met’s growing interest in modern Barker Medallion Newsday, “Hard Transportation Commissioner. and contemporary art. By connecting the Kim Barker exposed a virtually Knocks” by Jim Baumbach Science and Health Reporting dots behind a series of developments that unregulated “housing netherworld” You feel the pain in this extremely Medallion The Record, “After the led up to the Breuer, Colacello presents a of so-called three-quarter homes that well-researched, well-written piece Miracle” by Lindy Washburn unique overview of how the collections, exploits thousands of desperate men about one of the most important In three meticulously researched, boards, and new building projects of and women “recovering from addiction issues — concussions — in sports masterfully crafted stories, Washburn MOMA, the Met, and the Whitney are or with nowhere to go.” She fleshed out (and beyond) today. It also is a explores, in highly personal and touching now irrevocably intertwined. the story by profiling several residents model of investigative and public- detail, how a series of modern-day medical of homes controlled by an unscrupulous service reporting. “miracles” -- deep-brain stimulation to quell COMMENTARY AND businessman, Yury Baumblit, who the tremors of Parkinson’s disease; surgery EDITORIALS allegedly profited from kickbacks and BUSINESS/FINANCIAL to nip potentially lethal brain aneurysms; Medallion TheStreet.com, columns coerced addicts into relapsing so he Medallion Reuters, “Wall immunotherapy for the deadliest form of by Susan Antilla could cash in on their participation in Street’s Way” by Charles Levinson brain cancer – profoundly altered the lives, “Watch what Wall Street does, not substance abuse programs. Barker’s This penetrating, deeply reported both clinically and emotionally, of patients what it says,” Antilla enjoins her readers report had significant impact: Mayor series of articles goes behind the who benefited from them. and, heeding her own counsel, she does DiBlasio set up a task force and scenes of Wall Street’s efforts to Arts and Culture Reporting just that in a string of columns, built on prosecutors filed criminal charges weaken securities regulation; shines Medallion Vanity Fair, “Balanchine’s solid reporting and trenchant analysis, against Baumblit. To top it off, a reader new light on the revolving door Christmas Miracle” by Laura Jacobs that expose the duplicitous practices from Atlanta recognized her long-lost, between government regulators “Balanchine’s Christmas Miracle” is a unscrupulous stockbrokers employ to mentally-ill brother and was reunited and the securities industry; and fresh look at an artistic genius. It reveals intentionally mislead and, ultimately, with him. shows how the accounting industry George Balanchine’s lifelong emotional fleece their clients. Merit The Record, Editorials by Alfred P. Doblin Alfred Doblin writes meaningful and impactful editorials that offer readers keen-eyed perspective on a broad swath of local issues, always with clarity, reason and a strong sense of decency — his sharply critical examination of a proposed deal to build a new Hudson River tunnel, for example, or his artful takedown of a Republican congressman’s opposition to the party running gay candidates.

PHOTOGRAPHY Breaking News Medallion The Journal News, “Metro-North Crash in Valhalla” by Albert Conte, Frank Becerra Jr., Seth Harrison & Carucha L. Meuse Conte, a photo assistant at The Journal News, was off duty on Feb. 3, 2015, when he got word that a commuter train had struck a car, resulting in a fire and explosion. A volunteer fireman, Conte was one of the first on the scene. After helping with rescue operations, he used his iPhone to take pictures and email them J. Conrad Williams Jr. of Newsday was awarded the medallion for sports photography for this scintillating to the newsroom. Staff photographers shot of American Pharoah winning the Belmont Stakes and the first Triple Crown since 1978. Continued on Page 4 PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2016

minutes, allowing them to follow the The Silurians most current findings and staying as close to the events as possible. Celebrate Journalism ONLINE INVESTIGATIVE AND At Its Best PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING Continued from Page 3 Medallion The Record/NorthJersey. Becerra and Harrison soon joined him, com, “In Heroin’s Grip,” by Rebecca resulting in an outstanding package of D. O’Brien, reporter; Thomas E. photographs that led coverage in The Franklin, videographer; Tyson Trish, Journal News and wound up being used photographer; and Michael Pettigano, by newspapers and TV stations around digital projects editor. the country. The scourge of heroin ravaging a Merit The Record, “A Driver’s neighborhood hardly merits a headline Remorse” by Tariq Zehawi these days, but this series from The Looking beyond the obvious when Record brought home to readers and he photographed the aftermath of a fatal online viewers the savagery the drug accident in which a truck struck a car, epidemic is wreaking on Northern New Zehawi focused instead on this revealing Jersey. The reporters and photographers moment when the truck driver, overcome dragged us into the drug world by finding by what had happened, suddenly fell to people who have lost their jobs, health, his knees in the middle of the street. homes and families and were willing Feature Photography to share those horrid experiences. The Medallion Newsday, “Dunia’s Record staff explored how the damage Smile” by Thomas A. Ferrara from heroin costs communities dearly Despite a horrendous attack by and goes way beyond the toll it takes on chimpanzees in his native Congo two DUNIA’S SMILE Jennifer Crean hugs Dunia Sibomana, 8, who was addicts themselves. The combination years ago that ripped his face apart, seriously injured when he and his brother, who was killed, were attacked of print, video, interactive maps and eight-year-old Dunia Sibomana is by chimpanzees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has been statistical graphics now has made still able to smile while awaiting rare living with Ms. Crean while awaiting facial reconstructive surgery. this fine journalism a teaching tool in and complicated facial reconstructive This picture by Thomas A. Ferrara for Newsday won the medallion for school. surgery at feature photography. Merit DNAinfo, Murray Weiss Hospital. As Dunia shares a laugh with and James Fanelli. “Coverage of the Jennifer Crean, whose family has been Investigative and Public Service RADIO Unsolved Gail Mark Murder.” hosting the boy since he was brought to Reporting Feature News and Public Service Before being murdered in 1982, the U.S. by the Smile Rescue Fund for Medallion Bloomberg News, “Loan Reporting 28-year-old Gail Mark was convinced Kids, he is a portrait of hope. Sharks: How Two Guys From Brooklyn Medallion 1010 WINS, “East Village her husband would kill her. He was a Merit The Record, “Daddy’s Home” Lost God and Found $40 Million” by Gas Explosion” suspect but was never charged and the by Kevin Wexler Zeke Faux When a gas explosion ripped through case went cold for 33 years, until Murray All the emotions of greeting a soldier This journey into the new world of four buildings in the East Village, Weiss and James Fanelli discovered safely home from war in the Middle East unscrupulous online predatory lending leveling three of them and leaving a a clue in a civil case filed by Mark’s are vividly displayed in the face of Mari takes readers on a jaunt with the two total of 19 people injured in the East husband’s sister and new witnesses, Gumann of Vernon, N.J., as she hugs her young boiler-room promoters of an Village on March 26, 2015, 1010 WINS who raised enough questions for the son, Sgt. Jesse De La Cruza, at a Jersey “advance lending scheme” that provides was one of the first at the scene with New York City Police and the City armory where families had gathered unregulated, ultra-high interest loans to live coverage from the firefighting to District Attorney to resume the criminal for reunions with their loved ones. people with shaky or no credit. Living in eyewitness accounts, neighborhood investigation. Sports Photography as tax exiles after collecting reaction and every press conference by Medallion Newsday, “American more than $40 million for selling their Mayor de Blasio and other officials. The Silurian Awards were chaired by Pharoah” by J. Conrad Williams Jr. business, Pearl Capital, the tale they tell WINS updated their listeners every 10 Ralph Blumenthal and Michael Serrill. With no other horse in sight, American raises the question about the sometimes Pharoah is all sinew and strength as he slim differences between the practices of comes flying home on June 6, 2015 to Wall Street boiler rooms and mainstream Sunday matinee, next to his empty seat; win the Belmont Stakes and the first firms such as Goldman Sachs, which In the Spirit I remember Dan at home in Denville, Triple Crown since 1978. Underscoring offered to buy their firm. sometimes with a room full of girls en- the challenge of photographing horse livening the house or a morning’s work races, photographer Williams and his TELEVISION Of Kihss on his father’s new home behind him, camera were about 50 feet apart when he Feature Reporting Continued from Page 2 rigorously editing stories about the se- fired it. He had set it just above ground Medallion MetroFocus (WNET), moxed,” Dan recalled recently, “that cret toll-hike plan of 2011, the slush level near the track, decided what angle “Restoring Brooklyn’s Lost WWII they wore each other’s coats home, not funds built with much of the proceeds, to place it at, connected it to a foot pedal Memorial,” by Dave Brown, executive realizing the mistake until they reached and, early on, about an e-mail from by wire, and activated the pedal from producer; Diane Masciale, executive for their house keys. Governor Christie’s deputy chief of staff a photographers’ riser near the finish producer, local production; Sean “That was a lesson in methodical ques- that proclaimed, “Time for some traffic line. A little guesswork and 30 years’ McGinn, producer; Jack Ford, host tioning and building momentum during problems in Fort Lee.” They scooped experience produced a classic. For more than 60 years, the an interview that I’ll never forget.” everyone and took the scandal into the Brooklyn War Memorial — a granite By the time he became an editor in Governor’s office. MAGAZINE. and limestone memorial to more than 2004, he had amassed more than 350 Dan also coordinated coverage of her- Feature Writing 11,000 Brooklynites who died in front-page bylines and a host of awards. oin’s spread into North Jersey’s suburbs, Medallion Bloomberg Businessweek, combat during World War II — has During my tenure, Deirdre, then the a line of reporting that began months “How Trump Invented Trump” by Max gathered dust in Cadman Park, rarely assignment desk director, and Dan were before the issue took hold nationally, Abelson used and little noticed. Now, efforts an unbeatable, indefatigable team, pre- and one that led to Rebecca O’Brien and Abelson delves into the uniquely New are being made by veterans, legislators siding over strong editors and dozens of Tom Mashberg being named Pulitzer fi- York world of the leading Republican and the New York City Parks reporters who cover North Jersey’s 80- nalists in 2014. Dan’s relationship with candidate, profiling the people who work Commission to repair and upgrade the plus towns, Trenton, Washington, and a Rebecca, who joined The Record with for him (his chief operating officer is memorial and restore it to its original host of specialty beats. Their edits on the no daily newspaper experience less than his former bodyguard), challenging his purpose: an open, central gathering stories of the day were also lessons in two years before she took on this sub- claims of business success, and showing place for public use as well as a tribute the writing of the stories of tomorrow, ject, was a mentoring classic. how he turns everything he does into to the borough’s fallen. “MetroFocus” not just for newbies, but for skilled re- “I’ve come to understand that the faith some kind of victory. The story shows illuminates the project and brings porters like Boburg. and confidence he placed in me (and in how glamour and desire—and the desire to light a memorial few people even “He was a reporter of accomplish- all of his reporters) wasn’t a reflection of for glamour—can overcome any gritty know about. ment before he worked with Dan, but un- how great I was, but how great HE was,” reality. Investigative and Public Service der Dan’s mentoring he became a force she reflected recently. “He knew when Merit Vanity Fair, “Pope Francis at Reporting of nature,” Deirdre says. Shawn made a to hold my feet to the fire, when to push, Ground Zero” by Paul Elie Medallion News 12 New Jersey, point of crediting Dan’s influence in his and when to step back. I had no doubt, In this brief essay, Elie uses the “The Oil Changers” acceptance speech for the George Polk ever, that he supported me 100 percent.” Pope’s visit to the 9/11 Memorial to Reporter Walt Kane and his team Award for state reporting in 2014. She and Shawn are both being recog- reflect on the importance to New York expose the pervasive use by oil change Behind his deep tip of the hat were nized by the Silurians again this year for of this sacred ground—and on how establishments of substandard oil that the endless hours both devoted to a run- their outstanding reporting. even the Holy Father visits the site could cause severe damage to cars. ning story they made sure never died: I As they pursued their separate re- more as a pilgrim than as a leader of Their three-part series also reveals that remember Shawn batting out a strong porting trails, they bestowed a less for- the church. The visit makes clear “that New Jersey’s weights and measures follow outside the Metropolitan Opera, mal honor on Dan -- usually when he even in an apparently secular city people rules governing motor oil have never while his wife, Stephanie Akin-- an ex- was out of earshot. still conceive of grief and loss in frankly been enforced. The State is now ceptional reporter herself-- and his par- They referred to him, with smiles, as religious terms.” complying. ents, in from Oklahoma, enjoyed the “Our Fearless Leader.” MAY 2016 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5 From Brooklyn to the Rocky Mountains BY GRACE LICHTENSTEIN I left Chicago on an overnight train for rooklyn Bombshell heads for Denver. When I awoke, the sun was just “ hills!” That was the headline rising and cows dotted the landscape out- Bon the postcard I sent to every- side my window. Dawn! Cows! Nebras- one as I prepared to take up residence in ka! I was ecstatic. I had rarely seen any Denver as the New York Times Rocky of those, and certainly not all at the same Mountains bureau chief back in the 1970s. time. I grabbed my portable typewriter “Mountains quake, Crown Heights weeps, (Remember those?) and pecked out a let- John Denver sings at news of move,” read ter to friends back home. I am sure I had the dek. never written anything quite that early in I was full of enthusiasm - and igno- the morning. rance. The first story I attempted involved My enthusiasm stemmed from my love a “Summit on Coal” in a Denver hotel. of Western movies, skiing and hiking. My Energy and natural resources were over- ignorance started with the fact that I had riding issues in the intermountain west. never been to the city of Denver before. I felt like a freshman who had stumbled Why should that stop me? I had been ski- into a graduate-level seminar. What did I ing in Utah and Aspen, and had crossed know about coal? It heated the tenement Wyoming as a child on a cross-country in Brooklyn when I was a child. I decided road trip with my parents. I had wanted a to file the material as background. national posting for a long time, so when Instead, I drove to Boulder, which was Dave Jones and Abe Rosenthal offered me not yet the hip place it became. It was a the job, I accepted immediately. Then I half-hour from Denver. (The ride itself made a scouting trip; Jim Sterba, the cur- was a hair-raising experience given my rent bureau chief, lived in Boulder, and underdeveloped driving skills.) There, I showed me around a bit but I wanted to be visited a small tea company called Celes- in the “big city” itself. So I took an apart- tial Seasonings, which made herbal teas ment in a Denver high rise, and prepared fancifully named Red Zinger and such. to move. That was my first Western bylined piece. At my going-away party in New York, It was March, prime ski season in Col- Betsy Wade gave me an apron with a fifth orado, so I packed up my skis and went to of Jack Daniels in the pocket. The truth Aspen for both business and pleasure. Af- was, I had barely tasted Jack Daniels be- ter a morning on the slopes, I interviewed fore but it seemed like the perfect gift for a local authorities who had proposed build- two-fisted reporter in her early 30s. ing a narrow gauge railway that would To gain some perspective, I went to ease auto congestion in the Roaring Fork Chicago first, to visit the Times bureau Valley. (It didn’t get built, but it has been there. The Chicago bureau covers the discussed ever since.) Midwest but I would be watching even From Aspen I went to Telluride, an- more acreage: 10 states between Canada other of Colorado’s gorgeous old mining The author with John Wayne, in Nevada, on the set of the actor’s last and Mexico. Bill Farrell gave me careful towns that was reinventing itself as a ski film, “The Shootist.” instructions on filing my expense account resort. It was almost unknown at the time (Chicago was a relatively expensive city; – the first film festival had taken place Denver was not. Moreover, when I voiced only in 1974, and I’m sure neither Oprah seder at the home of one Jewish hippie what turned out to be his final film, “The nervousness at having to settle for a Holi- Winfrey nor Ralph Lauren, later celebrity transplant. It was perfect. There was Mo- Shootist,” Wayne made it clear that he day Inn on some reporting trips, I was told second-home owners, had never heard of gen David wine, relabeled Mogul David, did not have much use for The New York that I would be staying in so many flea- it. and after the meal everyone passed around Times. At our first meal, he proposed a bag motels I would be glad when I found Telluride had everything: scenery, ski- joints. toast: “Here’s to The New York Times, a Holiday Inn.) ing, hippies, bagels. Bagels? Yes indeed – I managed to sample just about ev- goddamn it!” The important thing, Bill said, was to a local entrepreneur baked them right in ery hill with a ski lift on it in the Rocky Nevertheless, he was friendly and treat myself right; the west was so huge Telluride. In my article I said the town’s Mountain West. But skiers were mostly kind. He had nothing more to say about I would get exhausted otherwise flying flavor was “one part Coors, one part egg just visitors like me. Over time I real- politics or newspapers. I was allowed to regularly from Denver to far flung towns cream”; at the time 60 percent of its tiny ized the truth of Wallace Stegner’s obser- observe just about everything. I saw the like Billings, Montana, and Albuquerque, population was Jewish. vation: “The real people of the west are Duke ride a horse, relax at dinner (drink- N.M. The locals invited me to a Passover infrequently cowboys and never myths. ing first a martini, then red wine) with They live in places like Denver and Salt Lauren Bacall and others. I laughed duti- Lake, Dillon and Boise, American Fork fully as he mimicked smoking marijuana. and American Falls, and they confront the A famous line from a Wayne movie, real problems of a real region, and have “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” Ah, Yes, I Remember Them Well gone some distance toward understand- comes to mind: “When the legend be- BY GERALD ESKENAZI auspicious day? ing… that they live in a land of little rain comes fact, print the legend.” Experienc- suspect that to most journalists, their I walked around Times Square. Why, and big consequences.” es like mine in the West were comprised memories of the seminal events there were people strolling—not many, not Of course, there were cowboys too, of both fact and, indeed, legend. Energy I they’ve covered are quite personal, like today, certainly, but in some numbers. and the one photo of myself from out and water politics might have been my and even small. And then I saw a policeman and realized that West that sits proudly on my wall shows best factual articles, but John Wayne One such moment in my own career— all the people who serve the public in some me with a legendary one: John Wayne. made all my days in Denver and nights in writing about the young, underdog United capacity were working that day—waitresses, When we met in Nevada, on the set of fleabag hotels worthwhile. States hockey team defeating the vaunted cops, firemen. And of course, pizza delivery Soviet Union in the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” guys. Olympics — came down to how I would file Well, I strolled around the area, which had my story. Perhaps the greatest upset in the become a district of sleaze. Cars had signs New Members history of American sports? I wasn’t thinking that promised “no radio” to thieves, and graf- Rebecca Baker, managing editor of The New York Law Thomas Easton was a Silurian in the 1990s but that at the moment. My problem was I was fiti adorned the rolled-up gates of shuttered Journal, started her journalism career around 1999 at dropped out when his work took him to Asia. Now he’s stuck in the balcony while thousands of peo- businesses. But there was at least one noisy The New Haven Register, where she was a staff writer. back in New York, where he is American finance editor ple headed for the exits, and there was no place doing business. It was a strip club. In 2004 she joined The Journal News for eight years. In at The Economist, which he joined in 2000. Earlier, he was New York bureau chief and then Asian business room for a computer. I had my typewriter, Aha, people working on Super Bowl Sunday. 2012, she became a staff writer by The (Bergen) Record before going to The Law Journal in 2014. editor. Prior to joining The Economist, he was the New though. The rest was simple: After typing a I wanted to get in and get out as quickly as York and then the Tokyo bureau chief for The Baltimore page, I rolled paper up in a ball, and threw it possible, for the truth is, I wanted to see the Patricia Bosworth, a contributing editor at Vanity Sun and a senior editor at Forbes. to the tier below, where colleague Dave An- game myself. Fair magazine, which she joined in 1988, has been a derson ran with it to our computer operator So I strolled in and, with as much jour- journalist since the 1960s, when she became an editor Ellie McGrath, a former writer and editor with Time in the basement. Then he dashed back up for nalistic cool as I could muster (I was worried at Woman’s Day. From 1969 to 1972, she was senior magazine and Condé Nast, is now with Witty Press, an my second page. about being mugged or drugged), said I’d editor at McCall’s, then spent two years as managing independent book publisher which she founded in 2004. More recent, Super Bowl 50 may have like to see the manager. editor of Harper’s Bazaar. Her work has appeared in She was a staff writer at Time from 1976 to 1986. In been the biggest event in the history of televi- A large man came over. “My name is such publications as The New York Times, New York 1988, she was on the Time team covering the Olympic magazine, The Nation and Esquire, and she has taught Games. She went to Condé Nast in 1991 and was articles sion — at least the way the National Football Moose,” he said. editor and a senior editor at Self magazine until 1998, League had it — but to this reporter the Super I introduced myself and told him what at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and at . She has written when she returned to Time as an editor covering education. Bowl has a more quaint memory. I was writing, and that I wondered wheth- biographies of Montgomery Clift, Diane Arbus, Jane In fact, who even recalls that the first Su- er business suffered. Standing atop the bar, Fonda and Marlon Brando, plus a memoir, “Anything Your Peter Moses was a reporter at The per Bowl in 1967 was not even called the women were wiggling and men were ap- Little Heart Desires.” from 1984 to 1993. He then went to WWOR-TV as a first Super Bowl? It was called, simply, the plauding politely. reporter and producer until 2001. He later became an editor N.F.L.-A.F.L. championship game. And as “Look around,” said Moose. “Do you see Francois Bringer has been a freelance producer and at a series of news websites in Westchester County. far as giving it Roman numerals—well, that anyone watching the game on television?” director of documentary films since 2003. From 1984 J. Alex Tarquinio is senior digital editor at Time Inc., didn’t happen for a few years as well. I didn’t respond to this rhetorical ques- to 1999 he was a producer for CBS News in Paris and where she assigns and edits articles and infographics on But as time went by, there was this sense tion, and even turned down his kind offer London, turning out news segments throughout Europe, topics including personal finance and small business. She that America stopped what it was doing to of a drink. I walked the few blocks to my the Middle East and Africa. In 1999, he joined CNN, has been a journalist since 1993. Her résumé includes watch the big game. So one Super Bowl Sun- office, and set out to explain what America producing pieces for Financial News Network and stints as a staff reporter at American Banker; an editor then working with CNN senior correspondent Garrick day, The Times sent me out to the streets of was really doing that day. That is, the Amer- at Forbes.com; book reviewer at the San Francisco Utley, in addition to covering a wide swath of events, Chronicle; and a contributor to Reader’s Digest, The New New York City to find out whether or not ica within a few blocks of The New York including U.S. elections, the 9/11 attacks, and conflict York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She is a past this was actually so—and was anybody out Times. But then again, all of us in this busi- in the Middle East. president of the Deadline Club. there? Just what was America doing on this ness think everything revolves around them.

PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2016 When Mike Quill Made Me the Story BY EDWARD SILBERFARB Then he produced a copy of the day’s January marked the 50th anniversary Herald Tribune, and cited an unsigned of the transit strike that crippled New editorial. “I’ll tell you what it says,” he York City, launched the bedeviled ad- shouted. “You didn’t read it. No work- ministration of Mayor John V. Lindsay ing man reads that newspaper. It says and provided center stage for one of the Michael Quill wants a strike so he can city’s most colorful and provocative take over the Central Labor Council (a public figures, Michael J. Quill. My federation of all New York City unions). own involvement with Quill began sev- “That’s a lie. That was written by Ed- eral years earlier. ward J. Silberfarb (“No! Boo! Hiss!”). Mike Quill, a fiery, overstuffed lep- You know what we’re going to do? rechaun from County Kerry, started as We’re going to take up a collection and a “ticket chopper” (the fare collection send him to journalism school.” (“Yeah! method on the early IRT), and rose to Boo! Journalism School!!”) become president of Local 100 of the The shouting and hissing and boo- Transport Workers Union in New York ing roared down from the rear and from City. He had a thick Irish brogue (some above like an avalanche. I was flanked at said it was fake) that he used effective- the press table by The New York Times ly in denouncing management, the press and the Associated Press, and I won- and politicians, and in winning favor dered if I could count on them if things with his rank-and-file members. They got out of hand. Better yet, I thought, were the subway motormen, conductors, would be to slide under the table. track walkers, mechanics, change booth I didn’t have to. The uproar subsid- clerks, porters, bus drivers, in fact any- ed. Quill turned his attention to other one paid by the hour who had anything matters, like calling for a strike vote. A to do with running the City’s subway thunder of “yea’s” and a strike was au- trains and buses. thorized if no settlement was reached. It was December of 1961. The union’s The meeting ended, and I rushed to a Michael Quill, head of the Transport Workers Union, holding a sign contract would expire the end of the year, phone booth. The Trib was only seven calling for a strike meeting. and the biennial strike threat chorus had blocks away, but first edition deadline begun. “No contract, no work!” was the had arrived, so I had to phone in my sto- squirmed at having to tell a first-person thy applicant. cry. The drumbeat would grow louder ry. Then I walked to the office. story, the editors argued about an editori- The TWU and the Transit Authority until New Year’s Eve. Traditionally, set- In the city room I drew some amused al follow-up to the evening’s events and reached a contract agreement after an tlements were reached at midnight. looks, but the night city editor was not to the editorial, which I had not written, all-night “cliff hanger” negotiation New I had been covering the 1961 tran- amused. “Where the hell have you been?” but which Quill had used to arouse his Year’s Eve. Four years later they really sit contract negotiations for the New “I phoned in my story. I was on dead- followers. did strike and paralyze the city. Quill York Herald Tribune. Then came the line.” At first they planned a flame-thrower tore up a court injunction to end the mass meeting of union members to au- “You didn’t say that Quill attacked you response, denouncing Quill as a bully strike, said the judge could “drop dead thorize a strike. It was in Manhattan in front of 10,000 transit workers.” and a demagogue who abused the work- in his black robe,” and was thrown into Center at Eighth Avenue and 34th Street. “I didn’t want to put myself in the sto- ing press. Then calm prevailed and they jail. Suffering from a heart ailment, he Some 10,000 screaming transit workers ry.” agreed to say only that the person who was moved to a hospital, and died two crowded into the auditorium. I sat at the “Well, you’re in it. The A.P. led with wrote that editorial did go to a journal- weeks after the strike ended. He never press table in front of the podium. Quill you and Quill. Sit down and rewrite it for ism school, but the Trib would accept became the head of the Central Labor began with a few incendiary remarks to the late city.” Mr. Quill’s generous offer and use the Council. The scholarship money? It nev- set the mood. While I pecked at the typewriter, and money for a scholarship for some wor- er came. Somebody Else’s Great Idea BY LEIDA SNOW nyone ever take one of your ideas and pass it off as theirs? AIt’s happened to me, so I can definitely empathize with Maria Dahva- na Headley. Her book, “The Year of Yes,” was published in 2006. Publishers Weekly called it “sheer chick fluff, but amusing.” One newspaper said it was the “poignant and hilarious” story of how Headley dated anyone who asked her out during the year and, in the end, how she found true love. Tracee Sioux may have come up with the idea on her own, or maybe — know- ing that you can’t copyright an idea or a Yes, Yes, Yes. It was indeed the year — many years in fact — of Yes. book title — she just grabbed Headley’s and came up with “The Year of Yes” be — she came up with the idea to spend How about a year in which the au- Wait a minute, though. In researching in 2012 to answer the question: “What a year accepting any and all invitations thor decided to say yes to everything her “The Year of Yes,” I came upon a cycle if I did everything my Soul told me to and facing whatever she was afraid of. partner asks for, including strange trips of books titled “But Enough About Me.” do?” Her book is about aligning “with The advance public relations from or sexual acts? Or 12 months of saying Nancy Miller published hers in 2002, our Soul’s purpose,” so “the Universe the publisher called this “poignant and yes to everything her child asks for, in- Jancee Dunn came out with hers in makes sweet love to us.” hilarious.” Sound familiar? cluding permission for activities beyond 2006, and Burt Reynolds’ memoir was Flash forward to a new book by I figure we’ll be looking at books with her age group? Or saying yes to her slated for late 2015. Shonda Rhimes titled — you guessed that title every few years. Publishers and mother’s requests, including spending a I guess that’s the trick: find a title you it — “The Year of Yes.” Rhymes, the editors seem to like it — in fact, they whole lot more time with her? Or always like and make sure no one’s used it for award-winning creator and executive may have been involved with choosing saying yes to her boss? Or agreeing to a few years. Don’t go for anything too producer of TV’s Grey’s Anatomy and the title and/or the idea of these efforts. all telemarketers’ offers? The options go well known, like War and Peace, and Scandal, has writing creds, and — may- And it’s a swell theme. to infinity. you’re home free. MAY 2016 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 7 The ‘Gentle Soul’ Of the New York Post BY HERBERT HADAD Reporters who served on the paper t’s the lucky man or woman who over the years are known as “Posties” finds the job he or she loves. My- and the whole ragtag cadre has become Iron Rushetzky found such a job. known as “Post Nation.” And of course But the most remarkable part of Myron’s they grow old, encounter misfortune, saga is that the job loved him back. pass away. For almost 40 years Myron held var- Myron has assumed the role of no- ious support staff slots at the New York tifying the “Nation” that it’s time for a Post, including the very visible city visit to Frank E. Campbell’s. desk assistant, becoming the informal When former reporter Margie Fein- heart and soul of the paper. The essence berg was in declining health, Myron of the mutual love affair with the of- alerted the Nation to visit her hospital ten gruff and manic stable of reporters, room. She died without any family, and photographers and editors was Myron’s Myron then helped arrange a memorial practice of sending everyone birthday or service and the shiva, the Jewish mourn- anniversary cards. And in a trade where ing ritual. deadlines mean everything, Myron’s Far from lugubrious, Rushetzky also cards always arrived on time. “does” weddings, book publications, “A Postie once told me that for years retirements. Aside from emails, he es- he and his then wife (#2, he is now on chews the modern media. He also has his #3) thought that I was off by a day in been a stalwart Silurian for many years. sending my anniversary card to them un- Oh, by the way, he also excelled in his til one year they went back and looked at job, a protégé of the late Bobby Spell- their marriage license and realized they man. Here is an example of Myron in were celebrating their anniversary on motion: the wrong day and I did have the right “Yes, I worked for Bobby Spell- day,” Myron said. man, ‘God rest his soul.’ Bobby called A onetime wireroom clerk, Rose Sa- me ‘Abracadabra’ because with me lyk, went on maternity leave and had a on the floor, he could reassign other daughter and son, Colette and Lucien. copy people (like Steve Cuozzo or Phil They became the first children of the Mushnick or Beth Seymour or Laurel more than 200 recipients to get Myron’s Gross, etc.) to other departments and cards. Years later, her children, now in confidently know that I could cover. Myron Rushetzky on his last day at the New York Post school, Rose called the Post with a story “One hot summer day in 1976 Bobby tip. “I got a little lazy with the birthday told me to go up to the Associated Press lence. And the last thing I heard before reporter and Westchester bureau chief cards… Rose told me that her children offices in Rockefeller Center to pick up he slammed the phone down was “(un- for the Post from 1972 to 1979 and re- really, really missed them. a hard glossy copy of a photo that an ed- printable) King Roger!” member Spellman with great affection. “That was a benchmark moment that itor wanted (again, this was 1976) and Myron is a graduate of City College His favorite expression for cooling off registered with me, and I went into full bring it back to the office, via public and, according to LinkedIn, dabbled in an exasperated staffer: “All you need is throttle with the birthday cards.” transportation, and be back in an hour! I early jobs – as a stock boy at the Century a good rubdown with a pork chop.”) Charlie Carillo, a Post graduate and literally ran from 210 South Street to the 21 department store and as office man- Myron, a good-looking fellow with current novelist, remembered Myron East Broadway subway station. I took ager for P.R. man Mortimer Matz. blond-gray hair and a bushy mustache, this way: the subway to Rockefeller Center. I ran Myron last spoke with Spellman, his is single and does his good deeds from “Myron Rushetzky is very much through the subway station and through mentor, on Dec. 31, 1976. “I was on va- his home in Queens. If one were asked alive, but the legendary figure he cut in Rockefeller Center to the elevator, rode cation and called to wish him a Happy to describe what he looks like, he looks New York City journalism is now a thing it up, while running in place, to the AP New Year and remind him I’d be back to like a New York Semitic Leprechaun. of the past because Myron has hung up offices. I burst through the opening ele- work on Monday, January 3. Bobby died He is fond of quoting the great Mary his telephone for good. To countless vator doors and ran to the photo depart- in the early hours of Saturday, January 1. McGrory, the columnist for the Wash- ink-stained wretches, past and present, ment (I had made regular pick-ups there There was no Sunday edition at that time ington Star and Washington Post who this is like hearing that the Statue of Lib- when I worked on the lobster shift, so I and I’ll never forget seeing the devastat- died in 2004. “I should confess, I have erty is leaving the harbor. Myron was the knew where to go.) and cleaned out the ed reaction of people coming in Monday always felt a little sorry for people who ear of the New York Post. You called the New York Post coop. I ran back to the and first learning that Bobby had died didn’t work for newspapers.” city desk, you got Myron. elevator, rode it down, running in place. over the weekend.” (I was a rewriteman, P.S. Myron’s birthday is July 15. “Take a moment and think about I ran back to the subway. I ran back from what that job would be like. No publi- the subway to the Post’s newsroom at cation in the history of the world makes 210 South Street and handed Bobby the more noise and pisses off more people envelope. 65 minutes. Bobby had told Society of the Silurians Officers 2015-2016 than The Post. So anybody with a quar- me to be back in an hour. I felt like I had OFFICERS: GOVERNORS EMERITI: ter and a gripe, a threat, a rant or a rave let him down.” President ROBERT D. McFADDEN had access to the ear of Mr. Rushetzky. He also has had his share of news- BETSY ASHTON LEO MEINDL

I answered phones at The Post on the paper excitement, including helping to First Vice-President day shift for more than a year, and the track down reporters after midnight the BERNARD KIRSCH COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS: Awards job eroded my already dubious love for night serial killer Son of Sam was ar- Secretary humanity. The best part of my day was rested. With the Post under the manage- RALPH BLUMENTHAL and LINDA AMSTER MICHAEL SERRILL when Myron showed up to relieve me ment of foreigners with distinctly non- and my fellow crash-test dummy on the New York accents, Myron also had an Treasurer Dinner KAREN BEDROSIAN WENDY SCLIGHT phones, Donnie Sutherland. amusing story to tell. Also late at night, RICHARDSON “By the end of our shift Donnie and a bulletin on the wires described a fa- Membership BOARD OF GOVERNORS: MORT SHEINMAN I always looked as if we’d given blood, tal fire in a brothel in Amsterdam, the DAVID A. ANDELMAN but Myron was immaculate and ready Netherlands. Editor Roger Wood and RALPH BLUMENTHAL Nominating to go — hair neatly brushed, mustache Metropolitan Editor Steve Dunleavy, JACK DEACY BEN PATRUSKY BILL DIEHL trimmed to perfection, loose black vest both from across the pond and beyond, GERALD ESKENAZI open over his shirt. ‘Anything I should were at a Christmas party in Westchester Social Media TONY GUIDA BILL DIEHL and know?’ Myron would ask as he took the County for ’s supermar- MYRON KANDEL BARBARA LOVENHEIM CAROL LAWSON hot seat. ‘Yeah, buddy. I’m very glad to ket tabloid The Star. BARBARA LOVENHEIM see you.’” “Roger called to check in. Since he Website BEN PATRUSKY BEN PATRUSKY, Upon leaving the Post as support and Steve were at a party, I’m guessing ANNE ROIPHE MORT SHEINMAN, co-editors WENDY SCLIGHT staff supervisor with a buyout in 2013 – they had consumed some alcohol. Steve MICHAEL SERRILL “Don’t say I retired” -- Myron suspend- started instructing me to call various re- Webmaster MORT SHEINMAN FRED HERZOG ed the mailing of cards but keeps the tra- porters, who proved to be unreachable ADVISORY COMMITTEE: dition alive via e-mails. and Dunleavy’s intensity rose. Finally ALLAN DODDS FRANK SILURIAN NEWS: Reporter Mark Mooney, writing for I realized what was going on and after BERNARD KIRSCH, EDITOR CNN Money, profiled Rushetzky, now letting him rant, I told him that the fatal GOVERNORS EMERITI: GARY GATES CONTINGENCY FUND: 63, as “the gentle soul who watched over brothel fire was in Amsterdam, Nether- HERBERT HADAD LARRY FRIEDMAN the jaded souls of the New York Post.” lands, not on Amsterdam Avenue. Si- PAGE 8 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2016 Lots of Pages To Turn One hundred and fifty people let their lunch get cold as they listened to fellow-journalist Robert Caro spin his fascinating tales about two of the 20th century’s most important figures. “My books are about power,” said Caro in his talk at the National Arts Club in April. Speaking before one of the largest audiences in Silurians’ history, he detailed the background as well as the nitty-gritty work in producing his books about Robert Moses and Lyndon Johnson. Caro burst upon the national literary scene in 1974 with “The Power Broker,” the biography and critique of Moses, perhaps the most significant urban planner in United States history. And then, in 1982, he published the first of Robert Caro speaking to a sellout his projected five volumes on Johnson. crowd of 150 people at the April Just the sheer numbers of words Silurians luncheon. fascinated not only the Silurians, but Caro himself. And he credited one of he could not do alone. He asked his his early newspaper editors with helping wife, Ina, to stand before the luncheon him to learn how to dig, to not take attendees. She not only helped him things for granted. That advice? find the arcane of the lives he was “Turn every page.” investigating, but also helped bankroll It was a phrase he used often in his him — to his surprise. For during the talk, and the advice still makes sense. writing of “The Power Broker” he had When he was rummaging through little money. One day Ina told him she hundreds of boxes of notes and letters at had sold their Long Island home so he Johnson’s Texas library, he came across could continue to write. James J. and the Bee’s Knees one that was innocuously marked. The book, though, resulted in the first For icons of New York in Prohibition, it’s hard to beat Mayor James Still, Caro opened it and came across of his two Pulitzer Prizes, and afforded J. Walker, who from 1926 until ’32 was known as the Nightclub a letter from Johnson’s paramour, Alice him the time to do his relentless research. Glass. It was simple advice: at a time In reflecting on writing books and his Mayor. Here he is in his tux, cigarette carefully palmed and probably when those around him were telling him earlier career as a newspaper reporter, with a flask of Golden Wedding in his hip pocket. It’s March 11, to run for the Senate, she told him to run Caro contended: “There’s no difference 1927, the night of New York Newspaper Women’s Club Ball. The for the House of Representatives. The in writing books and journalism. It’s organization’s president, the gritty feminist reporter Emma Bugbee rest is history. To Caro it symbolized writing the truth.” of the Trib, is dressed to have a sip of the drink of the day, perhaps the fact that those three words he had Caro declined to comment on a the Bee’s Knees (honey and homemade gin). Emma started at heard years before, “Turn every page,” current national figure, Donald Trump, the New York Tribune in 1910, after graduating from Barnard, worked quite well. saying only, “I’d like to see his tax and was still there when some of us Silurians worked for it on Doing the kind of archival work that returns.” 41st Street. By then, she was famed for her coverage of Eleanor his research demanded was a chore —Gerald Eskenazi Roosevelt. Emma’s club, founded two years before the Society of the Silurians, is now known as the Newswomen’s Club. It too has its headquarters at the National Arts Club, and the president Law Enforcement is Toni Reinhold of Reuters. –Betsy Wade Is in His Genes Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson’s first words before the Si- lurians March luncheon were not about The Subject his initiatives for handling low-level crime, nor even about his new programs that have made an impact on bringing Was Money illegal guns to the city. Dispensing the plain-talk advice Rather, Thompson paid homage to that has made her one of the country’s his mother in speaking at the March lun- top financial faces, Jane Bryant Quinn cheon. struck an optimistic tone at the Siluri- “I’m standing here before you thanks ans’ February luncheon at the National to Clara Thompson,” he said. “She Arts Club. raised three children alone. She was a Referring to the current political cli- female police officer when that was rare. mate, as well as the economic tsunami She was one of the first women police Ken Thompson of 2008, she said, “We have all, all, been officers to patrol New York’s streets.” at the Silurians luncheon through this before and survived.” Thompson has been at the high- Much of her talk centered about re- est levels of law-enforcement. A for- into possible wrong convictions. Anoth- tirement, and the best way to invest. mer Federal prosecutor in the Eastern er program, Begin Again, helps those She reiterated the stance she has taken District of New York, he delivered the with open summons warrants, along —from her 30 years as a Newsweek opening statement for the prosecution in with one that aids young offenders, in columnist, to gigs on the CBS and ABC the notorious Abner Louima beating and certain cases, reach a resolution without networks, to her current assignments torture case. Thompson also served as a a criminal record. for Bloomberg.com—that total-market special assistant to the Treasury Depart- If there is a theme to his tenure, it funds and government-indexed funds Jane Bryant Quinn ment and also founded his own firm. probably could be summed up with this statement: “As I follow in my mother’s are the safest route. She was not so san- at our February lunch But now, as the Brooklyn D.A., his guine about certain universal-life poli- far-ranging concerns include breaking footsteps, I’m determined there will be cies and variable annuities. had a notary public certify papers as up criminal activity such as the “iron justice for all.” She sprinkled humor into her talk— soon as the ceremony ended. pipeline,” which he described as bring- — Gerald Eskenazi warning the lunch crowd about financial Ultimately, she said she believed that ing in illegal guns from the South, and advisers who use what she termed the the market would reward investors over using wiretaps to prevent crime. “Doppler Effect: Stupid ideas seem in- the long haul—especially using the 4 “In my two years, we’ve been Society of the Silurians telligent when thrown at you quickly.” percent return formula—and had this able to take out three gun-smuggling PO Box 1195 And she recalled the wedding of a comforting advice: “To worry about rings—550 guns.” Madison Square Station friend, a widow, who wanted to make what the stock market will do today or Equally important to Thompson is New York, NY 10159 212.532.0887 certain that her children would be the tomorrow is just fruitless.” justice for the innocent, and he has cre- www.silurians.org beneficiaries of certain holdings —and — Gerald Eskenazi ated the country’s largest team to look