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June 6, 2002
Eulogies:Lew Wasserman
Lew Wasserman, philanthropist, former chairman and chief executive of Music Corporation of America (MCA) and one of the last old-time movie moguls, died June 3 from complications of a stroke. He was 89.\n\nWasserman was born March 22, 1913, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Russian immigrant parents, Isaac and Minnie, proprietors of a struggling restaurant. In 1936, the same year that Carl Laemmle lost control of Universal Studios, a 22-year-old Wasserman, with only a high school education, began at the bottom at MCA\’s Cleveland office, a talent agency with a celebrity roster that included Benny Goodman and Frank Sinatra. Wasserman worked his way up the corporate ladder and, a decade later, on Dec. 16, 1946, became MCA\’s president.
A Nuclear Iran: Still the Greatest Threat
President Bush has just completed a historic series of meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In Moscow, and a few days later in Italy, they signed accords to reduce each nation\’s nuclear stockpiles and increase Russian cooperation with NATO. Much was accomplished, but a major item was left on the negotiating table: Russia\’s continuing assistance to Iran\’s nuclear and missile programs.
A Code of Civility in Jewish Public Discourse
One of the most distressing aspects of the recent Middle East conflagration has been the retreat of both sides — Israelis and Palestinians, as well as their supporters — behind towering rhetorical walls.
This retreat evokes the verbal wars of the 1970s, when Israel meant racist and Arab connoted terrorist. When trapped beyond such rhetorical walls, we can only imagine, not see, what the other side looks like. And the imagination often runs wild, depicting the enemy in absolute and demonic terms.
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