Jonathan Kwitny
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Jonathan Kwitny (23 March 1941, Indianapolis - 26 November 1998, New York) was a Jewish American writer and investigative journalist. He received the University of Missouri School of Journalism's honor medal for career achievement. His book jacket biographies record that his reporting forced Lynn Helms to resign, and dogged Richard Allen for conflicts of interest.
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[edit] Biography
He was born in Indianapolis in 23 March 1941 to Julia Goldberger Kwitny and Dr. I. J. Kwitny (president of the medical staff at St. Vincent's Hospital)[1], and eventually graduated in 1962 from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. He received a master's degree in history[2] in 1964 at New York University. His newspaper career began as a reporter for The Evening News (of Perth Amboy) between 1963 & 1969[3]. He was a former front page feature writer for the Wall Street Journal producing front-page columns and articles about national and international topics; he joined the Journal in 1971 and worked there for the next seventeen years. He stayed with The Journal until his move to PBS in 1988. More recently, he worked for the Gannett Company guiding Trenton coverage for its New Jersey papers. He also served as a consultant on Pope John Paul for NBC Nightly News. Kwitny also had in the 1980s a PBS series entitled The Kwitny Report which during its four year run won the George Polk award (in 1990[4]) for best investigative reporting on television.
He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books. His fifth book (Endless Enemies) received a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
He was married in 4 September 1993 under Catholic rites[5] to a then-Methodist poet Wendy Wood Kwitny (his second marriage; his first wife, Martha Kaplan Kwitny, had previously died of long-term kidney disease at the age of 33), Kwitny devoted some years to completing his biography of Pope John Paul II, which he began in 1992. He died in 1998 of esophageal stomach cancer[6] in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center[7], aged 57[8]. "He was survived by his second wife and their two sons and two daughters from his first marriage. His first wife died in 1978." [9]
[edit] Partial bibliography
- Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II
- Acceptable Risks -(on AIDS testing)
- The Crimes of Patriots: A True Story of Dope, Dirty Money, and the C.I.A. -(about the Australian Nugan Hand Bank scandal)
- Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World -(1984; ISBN 0-14-008093-7)
- Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace -(1979)
[edit] References
- ^ NY Times, 1993
- ^ NY Times, 1993
- ^ Two of those years were spent as a volunteer in Nigeria for the Peace Corps.
- ^ "A decade ago, Mr. Kwitny and a producer, Tom Naughton, created The Kwitny Report for the Public Broadcasting System. Backed by a team of reporters, Mr. Kwitny wrote and narrated the weekly national half-hour news program, which won a George Polk Award for investigative reporting in 1990." Saxon, 1998
- ^ "The Rev. Blase Bonpane, a Roman Catholic priest, officiated at the couple's home." NY Times, 1993
- ^ "The cause was stomach cancer diagnosed in July, said a friend, a fellow writer Anthony Scaduto." Saxon, 1998
- ^ "Jonathan Kwitny, a journalist and author whose subjects were as varied as Mafia forays into board rooms and papal biography, died on Thursday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was 57 and lived in Cuddebackville, N.Y., and Manhattan." Saxon, 1998.
- ^ See NY Times obituary title.
- ^ [1]; see also Saxon 1998.
- "Jonathan Kwitny, 57, Author And Prize-Winning Reporter", Wolfgang Saxon. New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Nov 28, 1998. pg. C.16
- "WEDDINGS; Jonathan Kwitny, Wendy Hood"; New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Sep 5, 1993. pg. A.11
[edit] External links
- PBS.org Frontline article critical of Man of the Century
- Article in The New York Times on Kwitny's marriage
- Article in The New York Times on The Kwitny Report
- Article on PBS, with a focus on why The Kwitny Report was canceled
- Article from Newsday on Wendy Kwitny's meeting with Pope John Paul the II.
- "Guts and accuracy--the Kwitny trademarks" -(memorial article)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kwitny, Jonathan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American journalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 23 March 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Indianapolis |
| DATE OF DEATH | 26 November 1998 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | New York City, New York |
