Saul Friedman

FRIEDMAN, SAUL on December 24, 2010 of Edgewater, MD. Saul Friedman was born on Herbert Hoover's inauguration day, March 4, 1929, which, he always said, accounted for his leftist politics. After a boyhood in his native Brooklyn, he traveled the world as a reporter first in Houston, Texas, for the Houston Chronicle, then in Detroit for the Free Press, and in Washington for Knight-Ridder Newspapers, and, finally, in the Washington bureau of New York Newsday. During his reporting days, Friedman covered the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr., from the Montgomery bus boycott to Selma and Memphis. In 1963, Friedman won a Nieman fellowship for a year's study at Harvard. He shared a Pulitzer prize for the Free Press coverage of the 1967 riots in Detroit. With Knight-Ridder, Friedman covered the birth of the consumer advocacy movement with Ralph Nader and the Vietnam anti-war movement, as well as the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon and resignation of then-vice president Spiro T. Agnew. These last two events/ stories earned him Pulitzer nominations. He also covered a couple of wars in India and Israel, the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and eight years of Ronald Reagan. After a year-long sabbatical to teach national and foreign affairs reporting at the Columbia School of Journalism, Friedman joined Newsday. When George HW Bush, with whom he was acquainted in Houston days, became president, Friedman shifted to foreign affairs and covering then-Secretary of State James Baker. He was witness to some of the momentous events in recent history, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet communism, the first Gulf War and the Middle East conference in Madrid that led to the tentative peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel with Jordan. In 1996, Friedman left daily journalism and with his wife, Evelyn, went to spend five months in South Africa teaching budding journalists how to report the news in a brand new democracy. When he returned, Friedman founded "Gray Matters", a column which was ahead of its time, as a survival guide for older people. It is now in its twelfth year and when Newsday began charging fees for online readers, Friedman left Newsday and began blogging for Timegoesby.net. Friedman leaves behind the love of his life and wife of 58 years, Evelyn, who everyone knows enabled him to be so successful and influential with his work, and daughters Lise Friedman Spiegel and her husband, Bennett, Leslie Kriewald, and her husband, Paul. He also leaves his beloved grandchildren Benjamin, Zachary, Daniel, Melanie, Stephanie, Carly and Little Paul as well as his only great grandchild, Hayden. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday December 28, 2010 at the Hardesty Funeral Home, P.A. 12 Ridgely Ave. Annapolis, MD 21401 at 11:00 AM Interment Hillcrest Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Chesapeake, 445 Defense Highway, Annapolis, MD 21401. Online condolence may be made at www.hardestyfuneralhome.com.