Elie Abel | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1920-10-17)October 17, 1920 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | July 22, 2004(2004-07-22) (aged 83) Rockville, Maryland, U.S. |
| Occupation | Journalist, Author, Academic |
| Period | 1942–1990 |
| Subject | International Affairs |
| Spouse | |
Elie Abel (October 17, 1920 – July 22, 2004) was a Canadian-Americanjournalist,author andacademic.
Born inMontreal, Quebec,[1] Abel received aBachelor of Arts degree fromMcGill University in 1941 and aMaster of Science in journalism degree from theColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1942. He worked as a reporter for theWindsor Star inWindsor, Ontario,[2] for a year, then served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.
After the war, Abel returned to work as a reporter, writing successively for theMontreal Gazette, theNorth American Newspaper Alliance in Berlin, theLos Angeles Times, and for the Overseas News Agency as its United Nations correspondent.
In 1949 he joined the staff ofThe New York Times, serving as a national and foreign correspondent for 11 years. After working in Detroit and Washington, he became theTimes bureau chief inBelgrade, where he contributed to the paper'sPulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the 1956 Hungarian revolt. In 1958, he went toNew Delhi,India, as bureau chief and in that capacity covered theChinese takeover ofTibet.[2] In 1959, he returned to the United States to take over the Washington bureau of theDetroit News as its chief, serving only two years before being recruited in 1961 as State Department correspondent forNBC News. Distinguishing himself as a diplomatic correspondent, he was ultimately promoted to chief of the network'sLondon bureau.
During his years as a journalist, both in print and broadcasting, Abel was recognized for incisive in-depth reports on international affairs, and particularly on the subject ofcommunism.
Leaving broadcast journalism for academia in 1970, Abel was appointed dean ofColumbia University's Graduate School of Journalism andGodfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism. Abel left Columbia forStanford University in 1979 as the first Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication.
From 1977 to 1980 Abel served as the representative from the United States to the United Nation's International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, which published the "MacBride Report" in 1980.
From 1983 to 1986, Abel headed Stanford's Department of Communication and also served as Faculty Senate chair in 1985-86. Abel directed Stanford's program in Washington, D.C., in 1993-94.
Abel's first wife, Corinne, died in 1991 after 45 years of marriage. When he died, he had been married to Charlotte Hammond Page Dunn for nine years.[2]
Abel died on July 22, 2004, at the Casey House hospice in Rockville, Maryland, at age 83, from the effects of Alzheimer's disease.[2]
