Major Gifts A) Jack Newfield: 16 Boxes - Newfield (1938-2004), a Journalist, Author and Reporter, Was Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant Section of Brooklyn, New York

Major Gifts a) Jack Newfield: 16 boxes - Newfield (1938-2004), a journalist, author and reporter, was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. As a youngster he went to Boys High School and Hunter College from where he graduated in 1961. In college he became involved in college sit-ins, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and anti-war demonstrations. By 1964, Newfield was writing in the Village Voice. He became a speechwriter for Robert F. Kennedy. A dramatic moment in his life was June 5, 1968. While standing near Robert F. Kennedy in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Newfield witnessed Kennedy’s assassination.

Jack Newfield loved the sport of boxing and was friendly with many prizefighters. Although he truly enjoyed the art of boxing, he hated the corrupt promoters and the underbelly of the world of boxing. “… I view fighters as exploited workers, uneducated, like the farm workers in the 1960s and miners of the 1930s … they are victimized and I view my writing about boxing as another way to defend the working class against the rich plutocrat.” He was committed to standing up for the underdog and wrote about people like Don King, who he believed exploited boxers. Newfield’s book Only in America: The Life & Crimes of Don King became so popular that it was turned into a television movie by HBO. Newfield tried to “combine activism with writing.” “The best thing that ever happened to me was discovering Jimmy Cannon and Murray Kempton from the New York Post. They made me want to become a journalist … the wit, the irony, the subtlety ….” Newfield wrote ten books including The Full Rudy: The Man, the Mayor, the Myth; American Rebels; Robert Kennedy: A Memoir; City for Sale: Ed Koch & the Betrayal of New York; Somebody’s Gotta Tell It: A Journalist’s Life on the Lines; American Monsters: 44 Rats, Blackhats and Plutocrats. Jack Newfield died on December 20, 2004. His wife Janie, son Joey and daughter Rebecca survive him.

Annual Report 2008‐2009