Tribute from Rick Kogan in the Chicago Tribune
In memoriam: Newton Minow had 97 years of amazing, influential and ever-curious life
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When one lives for 97 years, you can be assured that this person is filled with a mountain of memories of people, events and accomplishments, especially if fortunate enough to remain active and sharp until the very last hours.
Such was the case with Newton Minow. Influential and inspirational, if admirably self-effacing, Minow died early Saturday in his home in Chicago, only hours after attending a Newberry Library event honoring documentarian Ken Burns.
“Simply put, Newt Minow changed the world,” said journalist Carol Marin, a longtime friend. “A visionary, he inspired public television, satellite communication and presidential debates. He was everyone’s mentor, including mine. He cared about people, loved this country and worried about our democracy.
“There are not enough words in my vocabulary to explain the greatness and the kindness and the significance of this man. I loved him. I can’t believe he’s gone. I thought — and hoped — he’d live forever.”
Marin had seen him less than two weeks ago, at a dinner he hosted at his home for PBS’ Judy Woodruff.
At the dinner honoring Burns on Friday, he was with his daughter Mary, and had invited as his guests Mike Leonard and his wife Cathy.
“I sat next to him and we had a wonderful, deep conversation about life,” said Leonard. “He looked frail but was animated and laughed often. This might have been his last lengthy conversation. He told me of the classes he was taking in adult education at Northwestern University. We talked about the meaning of the word ‘entropy.’ At one point he took a notepad out of his pocket to make some notes. Always learning. Always curious.”
Leonard had known Minow since childhood, growing up in a home near that of the Minow family in Glencoe. “He and my father were great friends,” said Leonard, who was one of network television’s most compelling personalities as a unique fixture on the “Today” show for three decades, telling stories of so-called ordinary people with memorable style, retiring in 2012.
He is a keen observer, and of Friday night with Minow, he says, “He had the same light in his eyes that he always had.”
In the wake of Minow’s death, major newspapers and other media outlets offered the highlights of his long career, most focusing on his short tenure as head of the Federal Communications Commission during the Kennedy administration and his famous assessment of television as a “vast wasteland.” In typical Minow fashion, he always credited his friend and sometimes collaborator, writer John Bartlow Martin, with inspiring that famous phrase.
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Mentioned as well were many of his other accomplishments, including winning a number of awards such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
The internet was abuzz with praise following the news of his death, with former President Barack Obama offering his public thoughts on Twitter, writing, in part, “Newt Minow was a dear friend, mentor and early supporter of mine. He also embodied the ideal of public service — helping launch the satellites that made nationwide broadcasts possible, cementing presidential debates as a national institution, helping usher in public television, and reminding the media of its obligation to foster a well-informed citizenry. I will always owe a great debt to Newt, most of all because he helped introduce me to Michelle when we were both young lawyers in Chicago.”
Minow told me details of that story not long ago in his apartment, which offered a fine view of the city and the lake to the north and was filled with many books and photos.
His office too was like a museum, on the 24th floor of a building in the heart of the Loop, with striking views of the city in all its skyscraping vigor. His desk was filled with the work he did for the law firm Sidley Austin. There was a prominent photo with his wife, Jo (Josephine), and their three daughters, Nell, Martha and Mary, standing with JFK in the Oval Office.
Jo died in mid-February 2022. She was 95 years old and had been married for 72 years. A lovely woman who was an active organizer and advocate who served on the boards of many local civic institutions, she imbued her three daughters with a love for this city. She would often say, “I just want to throw my arms around the city. I love it so much.”
To sit with Minow in conversation was to experience his rare front-row seat to history. He talked about Obama: “When he was trying to decide if he should run for president, he met with me and Abner,” (referencing Abner Mikva, the admired politician and judge), he said. “He wanted advice about the effect that running for president might have on his daughters. Abner also has three daughters, and all of our girls have turned out great. We told him not to worry.”
Minow’s daughters lead accomplished lives. Martha is the recently named chair of the board of directors of the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation and an esteemed law professor; Mary specializes in library law; and Nell is also a lawyer as well as a film and television critic who once wrote the “Media Mom” column for the Tribune.
If you want to know Newton Minow, I steer you to a stunning documentary made by Leonard and his television producing partner, Mary Kay Wall. What they initially intended as “a small gift for Newt and the family” grew beyond that into an important and inspiring hourlong “Newton Minow: An American Story,” which premiered in 2015 on WTTW-Ch. 11.
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The film offers a detailed life journey, stopping at the presidential campaigns of Adlai Stevenson, the Supreme Court, the Kennedy White House, the Cuban missile crisis, the civil rights movement and the launching of the first telecommunications satellite. You watch Minow take phone calls from Eleanor Roosevelt and get a tongue-lashing from President Lyndon B. Johnson.
It is a valuable historical document and tender family story, peppered with affectionate and humorous segments.
He also liked baseball and every year he would attend a Cubs game with Leonard who said, “He loved to talk to the oldest vendors and ushers.”
About his documentary, Leonard said, “Yes, that started as a gift for the family. Now, I think of it as a gift to the country.”
As was Minow.
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