David Binder (journalist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Binder
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| Born | February 22, 1931 London, England, United Kingdom
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| Died | June 30, 2019 (aged 88) Evanston, Illinois, United States
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Harvard University, A.B.(cum laude), 1953 University of Cologne, Graduate study (Fulbright Scholar), 1953–1954 |
| Occupation | Journalist, author and lecturer |
| Spouse(s) |
Dr. Helga Binder née Wagner
(m. 1959) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
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David Binder (born February 22, 1931 – died June 30, 2019) was a journalist, author, and speaker. He was born in London, England, but became an American citizen. He lived in Evanston, Illinois, for many years, after spending most of his adult life in Washington, D.C., Germany, and Serbia.
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Growing Up and School
David Binder was born in London, England, on February 22, 1931. He had a twin sister named Deborah, and two older siblings. His parents were American. His father, Abner Carroll Binder, was a well-known journalist.
David was very close to his siblings. His older brother, Carroll Jr., sadly died during World War II. This was a very difficult time for his family. Because of this, David went to a boarding school in Pennsylvania when he was 13. This school was called George School, and it was a Quaker school.
David followed in his father's and brother's footsteps when it came to school. He graduated from Harvard University in 1953. After that, he studied at the University of Cologne in Germany. He went there on a special scholarship called a Fulbright Scholarship. In the summer of 1953, he also worked in Austria, helping with American literature studies.
David's father and brother are honored at Harvard University. A special program for journalists, called the Nieman Fellowship, has a scholarship named after them. This scholarship helps talented journalists from around the world study at Harvard.
Family Life
David Binder married Dr. Helga Binder, who was a German doctor. They met in East Berlin. Helga later became a children's doctor in Washington, D.C. David and Helga had three daughters and many grandchildren.
When they retired, David and his wife moved from Chevy Chase, Maryland, to Evanston, Illinois. They wanted to be closer to their youngest daughter and her family. Evanston was also near David's childhood home in Highland Park, Illinois. There is a memorial there that honors his brother who died in World War II.
Journalism Career
David Binder had a long and important career as a journalist. He started working as a reporter and editor in 1951. He wrote for several newspapers and magazines, including the Louisville Times and the Daily Mail in London. He also wrote for many other publications, both in English and German. In 1970, he was chosen to be the president of the Foreign Press Association in Germany.
Working for The New York Times
David Binder worked for The New York Times from 1961 to 2004. This is a very famous newspaper in the United States. He reported on many important events around the world.
- Covering the Cold War: In 1961, he was a foreign correspondent in Berlin. He reported on the building of the Berlin Wall, which divided East and West Berlin. He also reported on the Cold War, a period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- Reporting from Europe: From 1963 to 1973, he lived in Belgrade and later in Germany. He reported on how East and West Germany slowly started to get along better. He also covered the Prague Spring of 1968, which was a time of political change in Czechoslovakia.
- Major Historical Events: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, David reported on huge changes in Eastern Europe. He covered the decline of the Eastern Bloc, which was a group of Communist countries. He also reported on the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He saw the end of Communist governments in countries like East Germany, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
- Wars in the Balkans: In the 1990s, he traveled a lot in the Balkans. He reported on the Yugoslav Wars, which were conflicts that happened after Yugoslavia broke apart. He also covered the Unification of Germany, when East and West Germany became one country again.
David Binder wrote over 2,400 articles, books, and reviews during his career. He could speak Serbo-Croatian, Greek, and French. He even wrote some fun articles about his own family.
A newspaper article about David Binder said he was a "restless, relentless journalist." It mentioned that he covered the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and its destruction in 1989. These two events showed how much he reported on the tensions between East and West during the Cold War.
After The New York Times
Even after retiring from The New York Times, David Binder kept writing. He wrote detailed obituaries, which are articles about people who have died. He wrote about important political and cultural figures.
He also gave many lectures at universities and other places. He talked about topics like Serbia and fighting crime in the Balkans. He also appeared on TV news shows like CNN and C-SPAN. He discussed events in places like Kosovo and Bosnia.
Books and Other Writings
In 1989, David joined the Editorial Advisory Board of a new magazine called Mediterranean Quarterly. He wrote an article for its first issue, saying that the Soviet Union's control over Eastern Europe was "falling apart."
In 2013, his book Fare Well Illyria was published. This book tells the story of the cultural and political situation in the Balkans during the last 30 years of the Cold War. It shows his deep knowledge of the region.
Love for the Northwoods
David Binder loved the Northwoods of Wisconsin. From the time he was a baby, he spent every summer at his family's cabin on Black Oak Lake. He loved the wildlife, the people, and the local culture of this area. He and his family continued to visit the cabin every summer. He thought of it as his spiritual home.
He wrote many articles for The New York Times about the Northwoods and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He wrote about things like wild bears, moose, and the Great Lakes sturgeons. He also wrote about the Native American Chippewa people and the local people called "Yoopers."
His Work is Saved
David Binder's personal notes, memories, books, articles, and photos are now kept at the Newberry Library in Chicago. This library is a place for research in the humanities. His father's writings are also kept there. All of David's 2,415 articles and other writings for The New York Times are also saved in their own archive. This means people can still read his important work for many years to come.
Books by David Binder
- Berlin: East and West in Pictures, 1963 ISBN: 978-0806910185
- Children of a New Fatherland. Germany's Post-War Right-Wing Politics (Introduction), 1999 ISBN: 978-1860644580
- Forward to "Media Cleansing, Dirty Reporting: Journalism and Tragedy in Yugoslavia," 2005 ISBN: 978-1882383306
- Fare Well Illyria, 2013 ISBN: 978-6155225741
Images for kids
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David Binder
