Arthur Spiegelman
Arthur Spiegelman memorial
Saturday 02 May 2009
I'd like to thank all the people who came out in the pouring rain to remember Arthur in New York, especially those who came from so far. And most especially Evelyn Leopold and Paul Holmes who actually did all the work involved.
I also want to thank all the people who sent me e-mails, notes, phone calls, flowers and Zabar packages. I'm still very moved by the stories you told about Arthur and the affection you had for him.
I'm always happy to see Reuters people past and present. I'd love to see any of you who might be passing through LA.
With much affection,
Charlotte Spiegelman
I also want to thank all the people who sent me e-mails, notes, phone calls, flowers and Zabar packages. I'm still very moved by the stories you told about Arthur and the affection you had for him.
I'm always happy to see Reuters people past and present. I'd love to see any of you who might be passing through LA.
With much affection,
Charlotte Spiegelman
Patrick Massey
Saturday 21 March 2009
I valued Pat hugely as a friend and colleague – he was the best intro-writer I ever encountered at Reuters, and I learned a lot from him during the old London Bureau days in the late ‘sixties, not long after he came over from the AP.
I had managed to snaffle Pat from World Desk. We then took to holding London Bureau auditions in the Hoop and Grapes, with landlord Ted looking on benignly. Sung fervently enough, "The Mountains of Mourne" could secure a person a coveted place in the bureau (assuming a modicum of talent as well). Pat was a magnet for talent, and we soon had what some people rated the classiest bureau in all of Reuters. Not only Pat but also Rick Norsworthy, Art Spiegelman and a bevy of other top reporters and deskmen. Heady days. The competition with AP was head-on, and we usually won.
As happens at Reuters, our paths split, we all went our different ways and sadly I never worked closely with Pat after that. But it was always a joy to catch up with him when we coincided in London – maybe at the City Golf Club by the crypt of St Bride's (no golf interest at all, it was just a trick to get a booze licence) or the Punch.
Some small details stick in the mind: I remember Pat not only had a loping gait as some have noted here but, as the night progressed, a backwards tilt. This was especially notable when he and his old drinking chum, a UPI Japanese reporter called Aki, were out together at one of those late-late haunts like the Working Men's Newspaper Club and Institute, a printer's dive fondly known as the Chew and Spew. With Aki, the more he drank the more he leaned forward from the waist. In the wee small hours you might find Pat and Aki standing at the bar – Aki by this time bent almost double and Pat rocking back on his heels at an angle of 45 degrees, too far apart to converse.
Pat will be missed by a great many people – the tributes here show the fond respect in which he was so widely held. He was a star in an era when quality really mattered.
Peter Mosley
I had managed to snaffle Pat from World Desk. We then took to holding London Bureau auditions in the Hoop and Grapes, with landlord Ted looking on benignly. Sung fervently enough, "The Mountains of Mourne" could secure a person a coveted place in the bureau (assuming a modicum of talent as well). Pat was a magnet for talent, and we soon had what some people rated the classiest bureau in all of Reuters. Not only Pat but also Rick Norsworthy, Art Spiegelman and a bevy of other top reporters and deskmen. Heady days. The competition with AP was head-on, and we usually won.
As happens at Reuters, our paths split, we all went our different ways and sadly I never worked closely with Pat after that. But it was always a joy to catch up with him when we coincided in London – maybe at the City Golf Club by the crypt of St Bride's (no golf interest at all, it was just a trick to get a booze licence) or the Punch.
Some small details stick in the mind: I remember Pat not only had a loping gait as some have noted here but, as the night progressed, a backwards tilt. This was especially notable when he and his old drinking chum, a UPI Japanese reporter called Aki, were out together at one of those late-late haunts like the Working Men's Newspaper Club and Institute, a printer's dive fondly known as the Chew and Spew. With Aki, the more he drank the more he leaned forward from the waist. In the wee small hours you might find Pat and Aki standing at the bar – Aki by this time bent almost double and Pat rocking back on his heels at an angle of 45 degrees, too far apart to converse.
Pat will be missed by a great many people – the tributes here show the fond respect in which he was so widely held. He was a star in an era when quality really mattered.
Peter Mosley
Patrick Massey
Tuesday 17 March 2009
There are some people in your life who once you meet, and are aware of them – like a favoured beloved byline – you always turn to.
That was Patrick J Massey.
In my early early years – months – with Reuters, when I was struggling to work out what the hell was Reuters “style”, Pat was a beacon.
How could you write a lead para that was accurate, interpretative, colourful, sourced, knowledgeable, passionate, stylish and less than 30 words?
Just read Patrick J.
Maybe it is an apocryphal yarn but the greatest lead I have EVER EVER read – not just on Reuters – I credit to Pat for his story on the inaugural flight of Concorde.
“I flew through the sound barrier today and not a ripple crossed my Martini.”
I’m sure they are not the exact words Pat wrote, but my God the mood that the para evoked – the key to any great Reuters writing – has always stuck with me.
It didn’t have to be short like a Pat or Arthur Spiegelman or Jimmy Pringle or Ron Thomson.
It could be long like a Ronnie Batchelor or Nobby Clarke or Ronnie Farquhar who could write a four line intro and it seemed like a two line intro.
It was the words, the positioning, the mood, the control of their craft.
They were all just natural story tellers, whether in words on paper or in conversation, which in a funny way I think is how they wrote, short or long.
And, of course, they all had the humour and insights of kind and loving rascals – how else could they write so magically?
For just a year I worked directly with Pat on London Bureau and fortunately The Sarge, who has known a rascal or two in his time, was the Bureau Chief.
“Where is Mr Massey?” he would inquire.
In true young honest gullible innocence I would reply: “He’s around Allan ‘cos his glasses (always identifiable black rimmed) are on his desk.”
“So he’s at the Golf Club then,” Sarge would answer.
Years – decades – later when Pat had retired, had a pacemaker installed and came through Tokyo to see his son where I was then based I asked:
“So, Pat, what’s it like having a pacemaker?”
“Ah, it’s not a big deal,” he said.
“I just have to watch out when I walk past a refrigerator in case there’s electro-magnetism and I slam into it. It’s generally the fridge that’s out of cycle.”
I always have and always will read a Patrick Massey byline, in cycle or out of cycle.
Brian Williams
That was Patrick J Massey.
In my early early years – months – with Reuters, when I was struggling to work out what the hell was Reuters “style”, Pat was a beacon.
How could you write a lead para that was accurate, interpretative, colourful, sourced, knowledgeable, passionate, stylish and less than 30 words?
Just read Patrick J.
Maybe it is an apocryphal yarn but the greatest lead I have EVER EVER read – not just on Reuters – I credit to Pat for his story on the inaugural flight of Concorde.
“I flew through the sound barrier today and not a ripple crossed my Martini.”
I’m sure they are not the exact words Pat wrote, but my God the mood that the para evoked – the key to any great Reuters writing – has always stuck with me.
It didn’t have to be short like a Pat or Arthur Spiegelman or Jimmy Pringle or Ron Thomson.
It could be long like a Ronnie Batchelor or Nobby Clarke or Ronnie Farquhar who could write a four line intro and it seemed like a two line intro.
It was the words, the positioning, the mood, the control of their craft.
They were all just natural story tellers, whether in words on paper or in conversation, which in a funny way I think is how they wrote, short or long.
And, of course, they all had the humour and insights of kind and loving rascals – how else could they write so magically?
For just a year I worked directly with Pat on London Bureau and fortunately The Sarge, who has known a rascal or two in his time, was the Bureau Chief.
“Where is Mr Massey?” he would inquire.
In true young honest gullible innocence I would reply: “He’s around Allan ‘cos his glasses (always identifiable black rimmed) are on his desk.”
“So he’s at the Golf Club then,” Sarge would answer.
Years – decades – later when Pat had retired, had a pacemaker installed and came through Tokyo to see his son where I was then based I asked:
“So, Pat, what’s it like having a pacemaker?”
“Ah, it’s not a big deal,” he said.
“I just have to watch out when I walk past a refrigerator in case there’s electro-magnetism and I slam into it. It’s generally the fridge that’s out of cycle.”
I always have and always will read a Patrick Massey byline, in cycle or out of cycle.
Brian Williams
Arthur Spiegelman
Saturday 21 February 2009
I was stunned to read the shocking, sad, sad, sad news about Art's passing away. What can one say at an awful time like this. I just pray that his noble soul will rest in peace. God bless his dearest family.
Naturally, he will always be in my thoughts and prayers. I have such pleasant, happy memories of dear ‘Art', who was such a loyal friend and remarkable Reuter colleague. Art was a fine, objective journalist with great integrity. He worked so efficiently and with a great sense of proportion, humour and integrity. Art indeed rendered to our beloved news agency great, loyal service. He will be missed by all who had the privilege to know him.
As Ezra Pound said, “The quality of the affection – in the end – is in the trace it leaves in the mind.”
Respect and love for the unique Art is carved in my heart.
Mohsin Ali
Naturally, he will always be in my thoughts and prayers. I have such pleasant, happy memories of dear ‘Art', who was such a loyal friend and remarkable Reuter colleague. Art was a fine, objective journalist with great integrity. He worked so efficiently and with a great sense of proportion, humour and integrity. Art indeed rendered to our beloved news agency great, loyal service. He will be missed by all who had the privilege to know him.
As Ezra Pound said, “The quality of the affection – in the end – is in the trace it leaves in the mind.”
Respect and love for the unique Art is carved in my heart.
Mohsin Ali
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 19 January 2009
Like all of you, I am deeply upset at the death of Arthur Spiegelman. He was a terrific reporter and writer, but, far more important, he was a wonderful human being, as nice as they come. I feel lucky to have known and worked with him, to have become his friend and to have enjoyed his warmth and his great sense of humor.
My good friend Jerry Kearney and I used to delight in kidding Arthur about his work ethic, which was remarkable, and encouraged him, good-naturedly, to lighten up and not to put everything he had into every story he handled. Of course, those words fell on deaf ears, since Arthur, as you all know, gave every story he did everything he had, and that was a lot. Indeed, I've never seen any one else in the news business put as much into his work as Arthur did. And I'm sure he gave Reuters more than it ever gave him back in return.
I last talked to Arthur about two years ago. It was our first conversation in years. I had heard he was ill and called him, and I'm so glad that I did. Art was one of a kind – great family man, wonderful colleague and friend and one of the best in the field of work he loved. Like all of you, I shall miss him but am grateful to have known this terrific guy and most certainly will never forget him.
Jack Cavanaugh
My good friend Jerry Kearney and I used to delight in kidding Arthur about his work ethic, which was remarkable, and encouraged him, good-naturedly, to lighten up and not to put everything he had into every story he handled. Of course, those words fell on deaf ears, since Arthur, as you all know, gave every story he did everything he had, and that was a lot. Indeed, I've never seen any one else in the news business put as much into his work as Arthur did. And I'm sure he gave Reuters more than it ever gave him back in return.
I last talked to Arthur about two years ago. It was our first conversation in years. I had heard he was ill and called him, and I'm so glad that I did. Art was one of a kind – great family man, wonderful colleague and friend and one of the best in the field of work he loved. Like all of you, I shall miss him but am grateful to have known this terrific guy and most certainly will never forget him.
Jack Cavanaugh
Arthur Spiegelman
Friday 02 January 2009
Great talent. Great laugh. One of the nicest people I’ve ever met. That’s the Arthur I’ll always remember.
Rob Doherty
Rob Doherty
Arthur Spiegelman
Thursday 25 December 2008
Following is a quick wrap of Arthur’s funeral service on Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
The service was at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City near Los Angeles, which is surrounded by a hilly cemetery (Al Jolson is buried there). About 150 people attended amid a lot of tears and a lot of laughter as they paid their respects to Charlotte, sons Michael and Adam, daughter-in-law Karen, granddaughter Molly Mae and brother Marvin. Most Reuter staff came from the Los Angeles bureau. Betty Wong, global managing editor, and Evelyn Leopold, former Reuters UN chief correspondent, flew in from New York and Kevin Krolicki, former LA bureau chief, came from Detroit where he is now bureau chief. (Charlotte intends to hold a memorial in New York, at a time and place not yet decided.)
Highlights from the service in order of the eulogies.
Rabbi John Rosove read at length from Belinda Goldsmith’s tribute on Arthur’s career, including quotes from David Schlesinger, Bernd Debusmann and Bernie Woodall. He also spoke of a little known event in Arthur’s life when he was 9 years old. “He, his young brother Marvin, and mother Hannah were walking in the Bronx one Shavuot day and Hannah was fatally struck by a car. Arthur’s leg was badly injured and spent the next three months in a hospital. His doctor wanted to amputate, but Arthur’s father wouldn’t hear of it and did everything he could to successfully save his son’s leg.” The full text is attached.
Evelyn Leopold: “Arthur has been part of my life since The (Bergen) Record days. Charlotte was still Charlotte Alter, as wonderful then as she is now, and Michael and Adam were not yet in sight. He paved the way for my joining him at Reuters in London...
“A poet once said, We are the dreamers of dreams... Yet we are the movers and shakers.’ Arthur dreamt big, lived his dreams and made us laugh and cry at the words he used to shed light on the pleasures and sorrows of the world. We heard his voice, his laughter. We miss his warmth, friendship, wonderful sense of humor and never-ending quest for answers. We are blessed for having known him...”
Bernie Woodall (Reuters LA bureau who visited the Spiegelman household throughout Arthur’s illness)
“Arthur is gone but he lives on in his friends and his family – his wife of 42 years Charlotte, his sons Michael and Adam, his daughter-in-law Karen, his 14-month-old granddaughter, Molly Mae... I’d say that Michael’s and Adam’s kindness and humor are in large part derived from our dear friend Arthur.
“We can’t be Arthur. We surely won’t be able to write like him. But if we remember him, he can help us be better people. Write a better story. Put more passion into a letter. Be the one people are happy to see. Be kind.”
Sam Hall Kaplan (journalist, author). Sam first met Arthur while he was at the Bergen Record in the 1960s. Sam was then at the New York Times and recommended they hire Arthur. “He had street smarts... He sang even then as did his copy... The Times then made it clear it wanted Jews who may have thought Yiddish – as I did – but looked British. It was their loss and subsequently Reuters’ gain.” Sam met Arthur again years later in LA, hung out in his office “to score a book or two and laugh and laugh and laugh.” ... “He really had a sharp pencil, a sharp tongue, a sharp mind... You had to like him... a mensch.”
Larry Klingman (film producer). “You don’t cry in baseball and you are not supposed to cry in journalism. What I observed here is laughter. And it wasn’t the kind of laughter when you don’t know what to say and what to do. It was the kind of laughter that reflects Arthur... Arthur lit up the room... “I held on to Arthur on his way out... and I whispered one last joke, one last bad joke, and asked him to share it on his journey... Arthur opened his eyes and looked deeply into my eyes: ‘Are you kidding. That is the worst joke you have every shared with me’.”
Richard Dysek (actor who played Leland McKenzie on LA Law) who met him three or four years ago along with his artist wife, Kathryn Jacobi. He attributed the Yiddish-British line to Arthur and said Arthur gave it in response to a question from a young journalist. “What is important,” Arthur said, “Dress British think Yiddish”... “He was one of a kind. There was a man.”
At the end of the ceremony, Rabbi Rosove noted that everyone had stories about Arthur that made them laugh. He suggested that they be sent to Charlotte at charlotte520@mac.com (Address is 520 N. Fuller Street, Los Angeles, CA 90036). In lieu of flowers, the family asks for contributions to the Sova Food Pantry www.jfsla.org/sova/index.php.
Many of us then went to the Spiegelman residence where food was delivered in large quantities, starting with a load from Mary Miliken, LA bureau chief, and baskets from Zabar’s in New York.
Rabbi Anne Brener, a psychotherapist and friend of Charlotte (who is a clinical social worker), presided over the Shivah (Jewish mourning service). She said: Arthur died at the beginning of Chanukah, the time of the winter’s solstice, the darkest time of the year. She encouraged Charlotte and the family to allow the seasons, with their slowly increasing light to comfort and guide them as they move from this darkness toward a brighter future. “By binding themselves to the natural world, it is my hope that they will find consolation and hope.”
Evelyn Leopold
The service was at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City near Los Angeles, which is surrounded by a hilly cemetery (Al Jolson is buried there). About 150 people attended amid a lot of tears and a lot of laughter as they paid their respects to Charlotte, sons Michael and Adam, daughter-in-law Karen, granddaughter Molly Mae and brother Marvin. Most Reuter staff came from the Los Angeles bureau. Betty Wong, global managing editor, and Evelyn Leopold, former Reuters UN chief correspondent, flew in from New York and Kevin Krolicki, former LA bureau chief, came from Detroit where he is now bureau chief. (Charlotte intends to hold a memorial in New York, at a time and place not yet decided.)
Highlights from the service in order of the eulogies.
Rabbi John Rosove read at length from Belinda Goldsmith’s tribute on Arthur’s career, including quotes from David Schlesinger, Bernd Debusmann and Bernie Woodall. He also spoke of a little known event in Arthur’s life when he was 9 years old. “He, his young brother Marvin, and mother Hannah were walking in the Bronx one Shavuot day and Hannah was fatally struck by a car. Arthur’s leg was badly injured and spent the next three months in a hospital. His doctor wanted to amputate, but Arthur’s father wouldn’t hear of it and did everything he could to successfully save his son’s leg.” The full text is attached.
Evelyn Leopold: “Arthur has been part of my life since The (Bergen) Record days. Charlotte was still Charlotte Alter, as wonderful then as she is now, and Michael and Adam were not yet in sight. He paved the way for my joining him at Reuters in London...
“A poet once said, We are the dreamers of dreams... Yet we are the movers and shakers.’ Arthur dreamt big, lived his dreams and made us laugh and cry at the words he used to shed light on the pleasures and sorrows of the world. We heard his voice, his laughter. We miss his warmth, friendship, wonderful sense of humor and never-ending quest for answers. We are blessed for having known him...”
Bernie Woodall (Reuters LA bureau who visited the Spiegelman household throughout Arthur’s illness)
“Arthur is gone but he lives on in his friends and his family – his wife of 42 years Charlotte, his sons Michael and Adam, his daughter-in-law Karen, his 14-month-old granddaughter, Molly Mae... I’d say that Michael’s and Adam’s kindness and humor are in large part derived from our dear friend Arthur.
“We can’t be Arthur. We surely won’t be able to write like him. But if we remember him, he can help us be better people. Write a better story. Put more passion into a letter. Be the one people are happy to see. Be kind.”
Sam Hall Kaplan (journalist, author). Sam first met Arthur while he was at the Bergen Record in the 1960s. Sam was then at the New York Times and recommended they hire Arthur. “He had street smarts... He sang even then as did his copy... The Times then made it clear it wanted Jews who may have thought Yiddish – as I did – but looked British. It was their loss and subsequently Reuters’ gain.” Sam met Arthur again years later in LA, hung out in his office “to score a book or two and laugh and laugh and laugh.” ... “He really had a sharp pencil, a sharp tongue, a sharp mind... You had to like him... a mensch.”
Larry Klingman (film producer). “You don’t cry in baseball and you are not supposed to cry in journalism. What I observed here is laughter. And it wasn’t the kind of laughter when you don’t know what to say and what to do. It was the kind of laughter that reflects Arthur... Arthur lit up the room... “I held on to Arthur on his way out... and I whispered one last joke, one last bad joke, and asked him to share it on his journey... Arthur opened his eyes and looked deeply into my eyes: ‘Are you kidding. That is the worst joke you have every shared with me’.”
Richard Dysek (actor who played Leland McKenzie on LA Law) who met him three or four years ago along with his artist wife, Kathryn Jacobi. He attributed the Yiddish-British line to Arthur and said Arthur gave it in response to a question from a young journalist. “What is important,” Arthur said, “Dress British think Yiddish”... “He was one of a kind. There was a man.”
At the end of the ceremony, Rabbi Rosove noted that everyone had stories about Arthur that made them laugh. He suggested that they be sent to Charlotte at charlotte520@mac.com (Address is 520 N. Fuller Street, Los Angeles, CA 90036). In lieu of flowers, the family asks for contributions to the Sova Food Pantry www.jfsla.org/sova/index.php.
Many of us then went to the Spiegelman residence where food was delivered in large quantities, starting with a load from Mary Miliken, LA bureau chief, and baskets from Zabar’s in New York.
Rabbi Anne Brener, a psychotherapist and friend of Charlotte (who is a clinical social worker), presided over the Shivah (Jewish mourning service). She said: Arthur died at the beginning of Chanukah, the time of the winter’s solstice, the darkest time of the year. She encouraged Charlotte and the family to allow the seasons, with their slowly increasing light to comfort and guide them as they move from this darkness toward a brighter future. “By binding themselves to the natural world, it is my hope that they will find consolation and hope.”
Evelyn Leopold
Arthur Spiegelman
Wednesday 24 December 2008
Thank you, Arthur. That you for your generosity and your time. Thank you for your wisdom and your experience. Thank for your patience with my crappy leads. Thank you for teaching me how to write a non-crappy lead. Most of all, thank you for your humor. I can still hear your laugh. It was just like you – one of a kind, irrepressible and irreplaceable.
Patrick Rizzo
Patrick Rizzo
Arthur Spiegelman
Wednesday 24 December 2008
The first time I recognised Arthur’s genius was in the early sixties when he reported for the Bergen Record in Hackensack NJ, on the theft of some bagels from a deli. His lead read: “Delicatessen owner Arnold Schwartz should put locks on his bagels.”
Rick Norsworthy
Rick Norsworthy
Arthur Spiegelman
Wednesday 24 December 2008
Yes, we Econ types were a different breed. Back in the day, we shoe-horned every piece of info we could into those precious ten lines on Monitor... but if it was a good story, Arthur saw it. He bridged the divide. One of my favorite memories of Arthur was a trip he made to LA... I gave him the grand tour – Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Sunset Blvd., and then out to Malibu and Venice Beach... Two die-hard New Yorkers let loose in lalaland! What a day! And what a treat to see that crazy town through his eyes! He certainly left his mark there... How lucky we all are that he touched our lives.
Marguerite Nugent
Marguerite Nugent
Arthur Spiegelman
Tuesday 23 December 2008
I want to see him roll his eyes up toward the sky again, just for a second, right before he laughs that goofy laugh, right before he says one of the smartest things you’ve ever heard.
I want to see him lumbering forward, shuffling really, his suit wrinkled and worn out, desperate to find a suitable way to hang off that awkward, Brer Bear frame of his.
I want to hear him talk about Charlotte again, about that complicated relationship they had, that relationship that lasted all those years, in all those places, through children and houses and places and things, that deep level of love and understanding that only people who are meant to be together can ever share.
I want to sit in the pub and listen to him tell those stories, those glorious stories about newsmen and newswomen, about actors and politicians, about pulling the wool over the eyes of the suits, about loving the job and the profession you chose to spend your life doing, and doing it better than anyone else around you could ever dream of doing it.
Arthur Spiegelman was Reuters – at least in America. The rest of us were just players on his stage.
He was kind and smart and fun and loveable. He was classy and silly, all at the same time. He was one of the most amazing writers I ever met. But he was even more amazing as a human being. His struggle over the last few years was nothing short of heroic.
I am hurting and I am angry.
I want Arthur back, goddammit. I want him back right now.
Andy Nibley
I want to see him lumbering forward, shuffling really, his suit wrinkled and worn out, desperate to find a suitable way to hang off that awkward, Brer Bear frame of his.
I want to hear him talk about Charlotte again, about that complicated relationship they had, that relationship that lasted all those years, in all those places, through children and houses and places and things, that deep level of love and understanding that only people who are meant to be together can ever share.
I want to sit in the pub and listen to him tell those stories, those glorious stories about newsmen and newswomen, about actors and politicians, about pulling the wool over the eyes of the suits, about loving the job and the profession you chose to spend your life doing, and doing it better than anyone else around you could ever dream of doing it.
Arthur Spiegelman was Reuters – at least in America. The rest of us were just players on his stage.
He was kind and smart and fun and loveable. He was classy and silly, all at the same time. He was one of the most amazing writers I ever met. But he was even more amazing as a human being. His struggle over the last few years was nothing short of heroic.
I am hurting and I am angry.
I want Arthur back, goddammit. I want him back right now.
Andy Nibley
Arthur Spiegelman
Tuesday 23 December 2008
I’ll never forget the sound of Arthur pounding away at the keyboard in his inimitable hunt-and-peck style at 1700 Broadway. Never before or since have I heard anyone make such a joyful noise on a computer keyboard. And what beautiful prose came out of it. He was the very definition of a wire-service writer – had an unerring nose for news, and always got the lede just right. We all learned a lot from him.
Later Arthur was my boss for a while, and you couldn’t ask for a nicer and more understanding boss. In fact, he had a uniquely hands-off approach to management. I took it as a compliment – as long as you were doing your job, Arthur didn’t need to interfere. And he was never much interested in management or any kind of bureaucracy. He always just wanted to write the next story.
I will miss his unquenchable spirit and enthusiasm for this business.
Marty Wolk
Later Arthur was my boss for a while, and you couldn’t ask for a nicer and more understanding boss. In fact, he had a uniquely hands-off approach to management. I took it as a compliment – as long as you were doing your job, Arthur didn’t need to interfere. And he was never much interested in management or any kind of bureaucracy. He always just wanted to write the next story.
I will miss his unquenchable spirit and enthusiasm for this business.
Marty Wolk
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
Arthur arrived in New York the same year I joined Reuters. He was kind and considered to a rookie who, even worse than being one, worked in Econ, regarded by many in General news as poxy part of the company populated by numbers people who wrote in code, couldn’t be expected to actually craft a story and were, at best (in a word yet to be coined), nerdy. Like so many, I treasured his presence, his guidance and most of all that giggle. I often took visiting pals from the AP along to see his office – no one had ever seen anything like it.
Later, after I had been posted to Canada, I filed a feature on the scene at a big fire in Montreal that killed a lot of people. Arthur called me and said it was one of the best pieces of writing he had seen. I have treasured that moment forever, although I suspect he characteristically said it over and over, a reflection of his enormous heart. He is missed, dearly.
Mike Reilly
Later, after I had been posted to Canada, I filed a feature on the scene at a big fire in Montreal that killed a lot of people. Arthur called me and said it was one of the best pieces of writing he had seen. I have treasured that moment forever, although I suspect he characteristically said it over and over, a reflection of his enormous heart. He is missed, dearly.
Mike Reilly
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
Arthur’s great skill was his ability to “sell” a story. He was one of the best at producing the sharp, the cute, the sexy lead. When it came to writing the really clever intro, Arthur was in a class of his own. I’m proud to acknowledge being mentored by Arthur in my early days as a reporter in London bureau in 1969-70.
Graham Stewart
Graham Stewart
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
In 1970 long before Arthur Spiegelman became a Reuter star and was among the foreigners and “colonials” dumped in London bureau from the World Desk and the North America Desk on the other side of Fleet Street, he suggested a bite to eat on my first night shift with him. He introduced me to the rat hole in Shoe Lane between the Daily Telegraph and Express buildings where printers and lorry drivers would eat their pies or a bowl of tasteless pasta. It was run by an Italian tyrantess with characteristics similar to Mrs Moon, one derogatory comment and you were out. Arthur swore by her pancakes, especially those with fresh lemon squeezed on sugar. When I said to him I had never eaten a sweet pancake, he said, “Are you a foreigner or something? I bet you’re from New Zealand”.
Michael Fathers
Michael Fathers
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
Everyone has their favorite memories of Arthur. Mine run together during the days when Digger had his office next door to Arthur at 1700 Broadway. I’ve never come across two more original characters in my working days before or since. During those coffee and cigarette salons in Digger’s office, one or another of them was usually editing, writing, laughing, joking or spilling coffee – or worse, sipping coffee with a cigarette butt in the cup. The gathering would then shift to Arthur’s office and back again, journos coming in during their breaks because it was the perfect hang out. They’d take a call, chat a bit, then come back to the mix. Both instinctively knew the news, but also a good story, and not just in the written form. They riffed off each other, telling great stories. I looked on, bemused at these wise elders.
John Abell wrote movingly on his blog (http://planetabell.blogspot.com/2008/12/farewell-sweet-prince.html) how Arthur mentored him, and we all had experiences where Arthur helped us find the lead, or more accurately, the story, in the 800-word piece we’d already written. One comes to mind in my case about a feature I’d done about a jazz guitarist. Arthur told me I missed the lead, banged one out and then swung it back to me. A few days later it appeared as a big feature in the Int’l Herald Tribune. I was slightly amazed.
Those were great times. Arthur was very human in an increasingly corporate world. To me, he really was what the news was all about. I’ll miss him.
Sam Fromartz
John Abell wrote movingly on his blog (http://planetabell.blogspot.com/2008/12/farewell-sweet-prince.html) how Arthur mentored him, and we all had experiences where Arthur helped us find the lead, or more accurately, the story, in the 800-word piece we’d already written. One comes to mind in my case about a feature I’d done about a jazz guitarist. Arthur told me I missed the lead, banged one out and then swung it back to me. A few days later it appeared as a big feature in the Int’l Herald Tribune. I was slightly amazed.
Those were great times. Arthur was very human in an increasingly corporate world. To me, he really was what the news was all about. I’ll miss him.
Sam Fromartz
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
I never met him, he never mentored me. I just read his stuff on the file and thought: that’s what I should aspire to. I still do. People like Art are the heart of Reuters and have made that name so special.
Marcus Ferrar
Marcus Ferrar
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
Art was unique. A great journalist, terrific writer and above all a lovely guy, who knew that one of the best things about our business was that it was fun. He was always the sparkling center of any news team we got together, whether the conventions or the Gulf War. Amid all the pressure and hassle, Art saw the funny side, which made him such a great guy to be with. And his writing inspired all of us. He will be sorely missed. They just don’t make them like that any more. Go well, Art.
Rodney Pinder
Rodney Pinder
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
Arthur was such a towering presence that it’s hard to remember what it felt like not to know him. For me, the Before Arthur era ended when Dave Nicholson introduced us in the New York newsroom in the fall of 1974, calling him simply “our best writer”. No one argued with that, and I could see why as I watched him playfully knock out a story on The Power Broker, Robert Caro’s blockbuster biography of Robert Moses – “a book as long as the Bible about a man named Moses”, as Art described it.
Thanks to his contacts with the Old Left I met the Rosenberg sons, Alger Hiss and – in death – Paul Robeson, whose wake Arthur and I attended in Harlem. The budget bean-counters of today would doubtless be appalled by the decision to double-staff (or even single-staff) such an event, but at that time our managers were either approving or oblivious ... in Mulligan’s or the Cordial Bar.
Arthur, like his office (“smoking room”) door, was always open – to breaking news, to the newcomers he welcomed and nurtured, to story ideas, even to new computer systems or style rules. Another titan of Reuters, his friend Ian Macdowall, once quoted the Roman writer Terence: “I am a man: nothing human is alien to me.” It was equally true of Arthur, and we loved him for it.
Graham Colville
Thanks to his contacts with the Old Left I met the Rosenberg sons, Alger Hiss and – in death – Paul Robeson, whose wake Arthur and I attended in Harlem. The budget bean-counters of today would doubtless be appalled by the decision to double-staff (or even single-staff) such an event, but at that time our managers were either approving or oblivious ... in Mulligan’s or the Cordial Bar.
Arthur, like his office (“smoking room”) door, was always open – to breaking news, to the newcomers he welcomed and nurtured, to story ideas, even to new computer systems or style rules. Another titan of Reuters, his friend Ian Macdowall, once quoted the Roman writer Terence: “I am a man: nothing human is alien to me.” It was equally true of Arthur, and we loved him for it.
Graham Colville
Arthur Spiegelman
Monday 22 December 2008
Art Spiegelman was among the most accomplished writers in any genre and a pleasure to edit, but I will always remember him as a very dear friend who found it virtually impossible to say or do anything unkind.
All the tributes when he went on full medical leave and since his untimely death are on the mark. But I’m certain everyone who worked with Art would agree that mere words hardly do full justice to his writing abilities and his kindly nature.
In the years I was in Washington and New York and was charged with helping put together Reuter teams for special events – elections, a Papal visit, summits in the United States, etc – Art Spiegelman was the first name penciled in. As Dave Betts notes, Art never let anyone down.
What else is there to say – he was a giant. I was fortunate to count him as a friend and colleague, and if Reuters had a “wall” to honor its exceptional talents, Art Spiegelman’s name would be there.
Brian Bain
All the tributes when he went on full medical leave and since his untimely death are on the mark. But I’m certain everyone who worked with Art would agree that mere words hardly do full justice to his writing abilities and his kindly nature.
In the years I was in Washington and New York and was charged with helping put together Reuter teams for special events – elections, a Papal visit, summits in the United States, etc – Art Spiegelman was the first name penciled in. As Dave Betts notes, Art never let anyone down.
What else is there to say – he was a giant. I was fortunate to count him as a friend and colleague, and if Reuters had a “wall” to honor its exceptional talents, Art Spiegelman’s name would be there.
Brian Bain
Arthur Spiegelman
Sunday 21 December 2008
In addition to agreeing entirely with all the above comments about Art – e.g. Paul Holmes’s phrase “graceful prose, unfailing sense of humour”, Bernd Debusmann’s “sparkling prose”, Evelyn Leopold’s “beautiful, clear and ordered journalism”, Sam Perry’s “fluid genius” and Roy Gutman’s “spotter of news”, I would just like to add that he was one of the most RELIABLE colleagues I have ever worked with. Send him on an assignment, no worries. Turn your back on him, no worries. Leave him in charge, no worries. What a great and reliable journalist and friend!
Dave Betts
Dave Betts
Arthur Spiegelman
Sunday 21 December 2008
Art was one of the best writers, journalists and colleagues I’ve had the privilege of working with. A terrific spotter of news, fact-gatherer and story-teller. And a real mensch. What a loss for us all.
Roy Gutman
Roy Gutman
Arthur Spiegelman
Sunday 21 December 2008
No one I’ve met among the storied and colorful characters that have regularly graced the top of the Reuters news ‘sked’ in recent decades struck me as having as much sheer DELIGHT in the craft of journalism and in his colleagues than did Arthur Spiegelman.
As we all experienced, he invested himself in it with the heart and talent and wit and charm that made it really feel we were getting away with something really special to have the privilege of working in a world and an era which include him.
While not the only one in the profession to have done so, I learned a lot from Arthur. Not all of it was as successfully adapted, of course. For example, I can now admit having embraced by own forms of his infamous ‘filing system’ – John Taysom used to refer to my office as the prototype of the paperless office run amok. But I could not come close to the fluid genius of his writing.
Arthur’s gentle irreverence and infectious humor will live o among us. It has made me a better person to have known him. After all, as I once explained to Arthur, it is no small part due to knowing him that our son bears the name of “Arthur.”
Sam Perry
As we all experienced, he invested himself in it with the heart and talent and wit and charm that made it really feel we were getting away with something really special to have the privilege of working in a world and an era which include him.
While not the only one in the profession to have done so, I learned a lot from Arthur. Not all of it was as successfully adapted, of course. For example, I can now admit having embraced by own forms of his infamous ‘filing system’ – John Taysom used to refer to my office as the prototype of the paperless office run amok. But I could not come close to the fluid genius of his writing.
Arthur’s gentle irreverence and infectious humor will live o among us. It has made me a better person to have known him. After all, as I once explained to Arthur, it is no small part due to knowing him that our son bears the name of “Arthur.”
Sam Perry
