A Good Man Gone

Benjamin Israel made quite a first impression.

I was a cocky 21-year-old editor of my university's student newspaper. He was a grizzled journalism veteran some 25 years my elder - back on campus to further his education.

I needed a news editor. He stepped into my office and laid a portfolio an inch thick on my desk full of clips from civil rights protests and political coverage. The interview lasted about 23 seconds.

To a student editor who was in over his head amid the biggest scandal in his university's history, he was a godsend.

Benjamin died Monday morning after a prolonged illness.

The news brought back a flood of memories of my Benjamin Israel experience. To know Benjamin was to have a Benjamin experience.

(Continue to full column...)

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