I first met Bruno Wassertheil nearly 15 years ago, shortly after I started dating the woman I’d later marry. Dayna had frequently referred to her mother’s companion by his first name, but it was only right before I met Bruno that she told me his last name. The moment she did, I could hear the former CBS Radio News correspondent’s plummy voice in my ear, as I’d heard it so many times through the years on my mom’s kitchen radio, which she kept tuned to CBS News every evening as she prepared dinner while I was growing up. I’d heard Bruno’s reporting from Israel through most of the ’70s, but in all that time I never knew how to spell his name.
When we did meet, it was inevitable that we’d end up arguing over politics: Bruno, who’d lived for decades in Israel and raised a family there, held views on Middle East issues that were often at odds with mine. Our disagreements didn’t keep us from becoming friends; if anything, they brought us closer. I learned in that first argument with him something that held through all the subsequent years of dinner-table debates: Bruno’s views were always rooted in a careful and respectful assessment of facts. He always knew what he was talking about, and he listened carefully to those who saw things differently. The same trait that made him such a good mealtime conversationalist was what had made him such a sterling news correspondent.
Bruno Wassertheil died last week. It happened very quickly — his cancer was first diagnosed in December — and I’m still a little in shock. The S.F. Chronicle wrote up a good obituary that you can find here. I’d add to its report that he was a brilliant Scrabble player; a wonderful step-grandpa to my children; a true pro as a journalist; and in everything a gentleman. I will miss him.
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