American editor
Fred M. Hechinger (July 7, 1920 – November 6, 1995) was a German-born American education editor at
The New York Times from 1959 to 1990.
Life and career
Hechinger was born in 1920 in
Nuremberg ,
Germany , the son of Lily (Niedermaier) and Dr. Julius Hechinger. His family was Jewish.
[1] He came to the U.S. in 1936.
[2] He earned his bachelor's degree at
City College of New York ,
[2] where he wrote for the student newspaper,
The Campus .
[3] He served in the U.S. Army during World War II,
[2] where he was a
military intelligence officer posted at the
War Office in London.
[4] He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of
master sergeant .
[4]
After the war, Hechinger was a student at
University of London and then a foreign correspondent for the Overseas News Agency. He then became an education journalist, writing for
The Times of London ,
The New York Herald Tribune (where he became education editor in 1950), and
The Washington Post ,
[4] as well as
Harper's .
[4]
[5] He also spent three years in
Bridgeport, Connecticut , as associate publisher and executive editor of the Bridgeport Sunday Herald .
[4]
Hechinger spent the majority of his career at
The New York Times , joining in 1959 and retiring in 1990. He was an education writer who also served at times on the paper's
editorial board , as president of The New York Times Company Foundation, and a president of Times Neediest Cases Fund (from 1977 until his retirement).
[4]
After retiring from the Times , Hechinger became senior adviser to the
Carnegie Corporation of New York .
[4] He was also a member of the National Advisory Committee for the
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute .
[6] He died on November 7, 1995, at the age of 75, of
cardiac arrest , at his home on Manhattan's
Upper East Side .
[4]
Family
He married Grace Bernstein; they had two sons, Paul D. Hechinger and John E. Hechinger.
[7] His grandson is actor
Fred Hechinger .
[8]
Legacy
The
Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting was established by
Education Writers Association .
[9]
The
Hechinger Report (Project of
Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media )
[10] at
Teachers College, Columbia University , was named for him after he served as a Teachers College trustee since 1992.
[11]
The Fred M. Hechinger Education Journalism Award is awarded by the Columbia Journalism School.
[12]
His papers are held at the
Hoover Institution .
[13]
Awards
1989
George Polk Career Award
1980 Foreign Language Advocate Award, Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
[14]
1952 James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education
[15]
1950 George Polk Award, Education Reporting
1949 George Polk Award, Suburban Reporting
Works
"About Education; A New Elitism Appears in Higher Education" , The New York Times , Fred M. Hechinger, November 20, 1984
"The University's Neglected Task"
Archived 2010-06-06 at the
Wayback Machine , Address by Fred M. Hechinger, December 5, 1991
"Are Schools Better in Other Countries?" , In defense of the American public school , Editor Arthur J. Newman, Transaction Publishers, 1978,
ISBN
978-0-87073-999-6
"Sving Youth from Violence" , Crossroads: the quest for contemporary rites of passage ], Editors Louise Carus Mahdi, Nancy Geyer Christopher, Michael Meade, Open Court Publishing, 1996,
ISBN
978-0-8126-9190-0
"Textbooks and Education" , Public education under criticism , Editors Cecil Winfield Scott, Clyde Milton Hill, Ayer Publishing, 1954,
ISBN
978-0-8369-2520-3
"Eight Weeks in America" , The Magpie , June 1937, v. 21, n. 2., p. 12.
An Adventure in Education: Connecticut Points the Way , Macmillan, 1956
The Big Red Schoolhouse Doubleday, 1959; Smith, Peter Publisher, Inc., January 1990,
ISBN
978-0-8446-1229-4
Teen-Age Tyranny Morrow, 1963
The New York Times Guide to New York City Private Schools , Simon & Schuster, 1968
Growing Up in America McGraw-Hill, 1975
References
^ Polner, Murray (1982).
American Jewish Biographies .
ISBN
9780871964625 .
^
a
b
c
"Fred M. Hechinger" . Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media,
Teachers College, Columbia University .
^ Sandra Shoiock Roff, Anthony M. Cucchiara & Barbara J. Dunlap, From the Free Academy to CUNY: Illustrating Public Higher Education in New York City, 1847–1997 (Fordham University Press, 2000), p. 73.
^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h Lawrence Van Gelder,
Fred Hechinger, Education Editor and Advocate, Dies at 75 , New York Times (November 7, 1995).
^
"Hechinger, Fred M." Harper's Magazine .
^
"Fred M. Hechinger, 1920–1995" . Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
^
"Fred Hechinger, Education Editor and Advocate, Dies at 75" , The New York Times , LAWRENCE VAN GELDER, November 7, 1995
^
"Fred Hechinger: Fear Street Stardom Beckons" .
Den of Geek . p. 4.
Archived from the original on January 4, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2023 . The 25-year old was raised in New York, and is the grandson of The New York Times education editor Fred M. Hechinger.
^
"Education Writers Association: Contests" . Ewa.org. 2010-01-25. Archived from
the original on 2010-09-05. Retrieved 2010-09-27 .
^
"Hechinger Institute History" . hechinger.tc.columbia.edu. Archived from
the original on 2017-09-20.
^
"Hechinger, Fred M. Elected as Trustee of Teachers College" . Pocketknowledge, Teachers College Library Archive.
^
"The Daily Plan-it / Dean of Students Blog, Columbia J-school :: GRADUATION: Fred M. Hechinger Education Journalism Award :: April :: 2010" . Deanstudents.blogsome.com. 2010-04-21. Archived from
the original on 2010-09-25. Retrieved 2010-09-27 .
^
"Hechinger (Fred M.) papers" .
^
"The James W. Dodge Foreign Language Advocate Award" . Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Archived from
the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2014 .
^
"The James L. Fisher Award for Distinguished Service to Education" . CASE. Archived from
the original on 2010-05-06. Retrieved 2010-09-27 .
External links
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