Slater had a distinguished career, in which he worked for TIME magazine, UPI and The Jerusalem Report.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFVeteran journalist Robert Slater(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Distinguished journalist Robert Slater died in Jerusalem on Tuesday at the age of 70 after a long illness.Slater had a distinguished career, in which he worked for Time magazine, UPI and The Jerusalem Report. He was also a prolific author, with 26 books to his name.In recent years, in addition to writing a regular column for the Report, he volunteered as a mentor to young journalists at The Jerusalem Post.Slater was born in New York City on October 1, 1943, and grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1962 and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, where he majored in political science.He received a master’s of science degree in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1967.Slater worked for UPI in the US (1969 to 1971) and in Jerusalem (1973-1974); and for Time in Jerusalem from 1976 to 1996. Between 1987 and 1990 he served as chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel.Among the books Slater authored were biographies of Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin. He also wrote numerous books on American business leaders, including Jack Welch, George Soros and Donald Trump.With his wife, Elinor, he co-authored two books, Great Jewish Women and Great Jewish Men.He was a keen sports fan, in particular baseball, and another of his books was titled Great Jews in Sports.In recent years, Slater served as mentor to a younger generation of journalists. In addition to providing guidance and advice on a regular basis to Jerusalem Post staff members on improving their skills, he was always willing to sit with aspiring book writers. Without fail, he magnanimously shared his experience and wisdom from his years as an accomplished and successful author.
