On the Passing of Bill Handleman
Mr.smith of New Jersey
Mr.Speaker, award-winning journalist BillHandleman, 62, of the Asbury ParkPress, tragically passed away yesterday
after a long bout with cancer.
A family man and a humanitarianwith a great big heart and incisive wit,
Bill is survived by his dear wife Judy,his three children, his mom, extendedfamily, and a boatload of friends.
And allow me to extend our deepestcondolences to the family and to let them know that our prayers are withthem during this very, very difficulttime.
Mr. Speaker, to know Bill Handlemanin person or through his prolificpen is to respect and admire his innategoodness, his generosity, and goodhumor. For years, Bill’s news beat wassports, and he especially liked theponies. He was a four-time sportswriterof the year, in 1992, 2002, 2003, and 2005.
Asbury Park Press staff writer ShannonMullen writes in today’s edition,
however, that ‘‘Bill soon discoveredthat he much preferred writing abouteveryday struggles of ordinary peoplerather than the coddled multimillionaireathletes he dealt with on thesports beat.’’
Bill had an extraordinary penchant for finding compelling subject matter andconsistently turned the seeminglymundane, especially those who wereleft out and left behind, into great human interest stories.
The Press’s Shannon Mullen againsummed it up well: ‘‘Bill Handlemanwas a gifted storyteller. His writingstyle was direct, witty, and spare. Alifelong student of Hemingway, he usedperiods like an Impressionist painteruses a brush, preferring short, incisivesentences that packed a punch. And asa columnist, Handleman relishedchampioning the underdog.’’ Mr.Speaker, thank God he did.
Even as he battled cancer, Billturned out one great story after anotherwith intriguing titles like, ‘‘AMan With a Hole in His Heart: ACoach’s Story’’; ‘‘No Longer Homeless:A Former Mogul Envisions the Future’’;‘‘A Different Midlife Crisis: AMan Learns that He Is Adopted’’; ‘‘Duringthe Depression, the Poor Scramblefor Work and Cash’’; ‘‘A Father LeavesBehind a Secret’’—it was a World WarII veteran story.
His stories made us laugh andtouched our hearts, and they moved usto action, like the case of David Goldman.To a large extent, David Goldmanceased being invisible in his heroic battleto reclaim his son, Sean, from achild abductor in Brazil because BillHandleman made it his passion to effectivelyinform, inspire, and challengethe community, including and especiallylawmakers, to join David’sstruggle for justice.
‘‘For 4 years, no one could hear him.He was shouting in the dark,’’ David’sfather, Barry, told Mr. Handleman inone column. In the 16 months since Mr.Handleman began telling this story,David’s seemingly intractable plightwent from near total obscurity to hugeprominence. Public officials at everylevel responded to the call.
Each of Bill Handleman’s approximately24 columns not only conveyedto readers timely and critically importantinformation about the Goldmancase, but Mr. Handleman went deep behindthe scenes to flesh out details ofuncommon courage, sacrifice and compassion.Bill Handleman gave the communityrare insights into the raw emotionand the fleeting successes, followedby frustrating setbacks, theagony and ultimately the ecstasy ofDavid and Sean’s permanent reunion.
In a candor and depth of reportingfound nowhere else in the print media,we got to know David in his own wordsas he was thinking it. Readers of thecolumn were there with David oncountless trips to Rio, to Brasilia, toWashington, and at home with him inMonmouthCounty. For more than ayear, Bill Handleman allowed us to seeit all as David did and to walk, to someextent, inleft-behind-parents’ shoes.Through Bill Handleman’s incisive pen,we also got to know much of DavidGoldman’s family and close friends.
We will miss Bill Handleman. I, alongwith tens of thousands of others, readeach and every column, often withtears and empathy and resolve to domore about David Goldman’s case.David Goldman was, indeed, lucky thatthe columnist who embraced his questturned out to be a consummate storytellerand the Handleman column atrue game-changer. Bill Handleman didan exceptional job. We will miss himdearly.
Again, our prayers and our condolencesgo out to Judy and to the family.