Nieman Reports
Winter 2006 Issue
Nieman Notes
Compiled by Lois Fiore
A Gerald Boyd Remembrance
By Margaret Engel
In the early 1970's,
when I first met Gerald in our journalism classes at the University of Missouri, he was a fairly terrifying figure. He was working hard to win more respect for African-American students on campus, and he was often fierce and unapproachable. When we met years later, covering some event in Washington, D.C., the anger, but never the intensity, had faded. This was the sweet, companionable side of Gerald. Having been a Nieman the year before, he asked about some of the amazing offerings he could choose. He was delighted to be on a campus that didn't require grades, just curiosity. He served as a final judge for the Alicia Patterson Fellowships and gave the applicants his all, despite the overload of his editorship at The New York Times. Gerald truly had a passion for our profession and reached its highest levels because of his hard work, enterprise, and talent. I will miss him.
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