Journalist Breindel Dies at 42

Eric M. Breindel '77, the former editorial page editor for The New York Post and a senior vice president of the News Corporation, died March 7. He was 42.

Breindel was hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding, massive hermorrhaging and cardiac arrest in the week prior to his death, The Post reported. He had a history of health problems, including a bout with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, according to long-time friend Seth A. Kaplan '77.

Breindel, a former Crimson editorial chair, was a well-known conservative commentator in New York. He was hired as The Post's editorial page editor in 1986, and left in January 1997 to develop strategic policy for the News Corporation, which owns The Post and the Fox News Channel.

He continued to write a weekly column in The Post and hosted a weekly TV show, "Fox News Watch," on the Fox News Channel.

"He liked writing--that was his first love," said Kaplan, who is a former Crimson executive.

Breindel was a leading voice for the Jewish community during the racial unrest in Brooklyn's Crown Heights in 1991 after a Hasidic driver struck and killed a seven-year-old black child.

A Hasidic Jew was fatally stabbed during the ensuing riots. Breindel likened the Crown Heights riots to an American pogrom.

Kaplan--who first met Breindel when the two attended Phillips Exeter Academy and was his roommate during their first year at Harvard--said Breindel was a vocal, charismatic leader throughout his life, "kind of Jewish Kennedy."

Breindel, who was a social studies concentrator at Harvard, fervently pursued those issues most important to him, including Zionism and social justice, according to Kaplan.

After graduating from the College, Breindel attended the London School of Economics and Harvard Law School, where he received his law degree in 1982. He served as a legislative assistant to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) in 1982 and 1983.

"He enjoyed the leadership aspect of politics, but was wary of the electoral side," Kaplan said.

Breindel then returned to journalism, working for the Public Broadcasting Service and The New York Daily News before joining The Post.

Kaplan said Breindel had a series of health problems, beginning with a congenital kidney problem for which he underwent surgery during his junior year at Harvard, and was in intense physical pain much of his life.

"It's hard to get people to realize that he was operating at 25 percent," he said. "It kind of blows your mind [to think] what he could have accomplished if he had more time."

Funeral services were held in Manhattan on March 9. Among those in attendance included Moynihan, New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.), New York Governor George Pataki and Henry A. Kissinger '50.

Breindel is survived by his parents, Dr. Joseph H. and Sonia Breindel, and a sister, Dr. Monique Breindel, all of Manhattan.