Newsday managing editor Robert F. Brandt - December 28, 2018

In an often hard-charging newsroom world, Newsday managing editor Robert F. Brandt excelled with brilliant editing, unflappable calm, even when catastrophic events erupted around the world, while always taking care of his colleagues.

“As the night managing editor, Bob had tremendous impact; ultimately, he decided what got into the paper, and what didn’t, and how much attention a story should receive,” said Howard Schneider, a former Newsday editor and founding dean of the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University.

Brandt, who died Friday in a Maryland hospice at age 72, completely redid the paper the night TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, his former colleagues recalled, killing all 230 passengers on July 17, 1996.

When he retired after serving more than 15 years as managing editor, Brandt said he was proud of his role in converting Newsday from an afternoon to a morning newspaper, in the mid-1980s when afternoon papers were struggling. He also advanced Newsday’s efforts to hire more minority staff members.

Before joining Newsday in 1981, Brandt had worked at the Tampa Tribune, Hartford Courant, Miami Herald and Washington Star.

Attribution: Joan Gralla - newsday.com
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