Edwin Newman, a fixture at NBC News for more than three decades, and a language maven who authored best-selling books on the virtue of communicating clearly, died September 13, 2010, in Oxford, England. He was 91.
According to news reports, the cause was pneumonia. Newman and his wife had moved to England in 2007 to live closer to their daughter.
During his tenure with NBC, Newman worked as a correspondent, anchorman and critic before retiring in 1984. Programs he appeared on included Today and Meet the Press, as well as numerous documentaries on topics ranging from political extremism to kidney dialysis. He won seven New York Emmy Awards for his work in the 1960s and ’70s with NBC’s local affiliate, WNBC-TV, where he was a drama critic and host of the interview program Speaking Freely.
Newman also moderated two presidential debates — the first Gerald Ford- Jimmy Carter debate in 1976 and the second Ronald Reagan-Walter Mondale debate in 1984. In addition he covered such major events as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In the 1970s Newman became famous for the books Strictly Speaking and A Civil Tongue, which affirmed his commitment to preserving proper use of the English language.
Born in New York City on January 25, 1919, Newman earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin, where he worked on the campus newspaper.
He began his journalism career in Washington, D.C., with the International News Service, followed by a stint with United Press.
After serving in the Navy from 1942 to 1945, he returned to United Press. He later worked in the Washington bureau of the New York newspaper PM before joining the Tufty News Service.
In 1947 Newman moved into radio when he joined the Washington bureau of CBS News, where he helped the commentator Eric Sevareid prepare his nightly broadcasts. Two years later he left CBS, and over the ensuing years he worked for NBC in London, Rome and Paris before settling in New York in 1961.
His contempt for improper use of language developed as he witnessed the encroachment of jargon, double-speak, solecisms and other affronts to conventional English. On a personal level, he relished a good pun, and frequently used them in his television commentaries.
In addition to Strictly Speaking and A Civil Tongue, Newman wrote other books, including the comic novel Sunday Punch. In addition to his Emmys, he received an Overseas Press Club Award and a Peabody Award.
Although he exuded seriousness to many in the public, Newman had a lighter side, reflected by his 1984 stint as host of NBC’s sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. And in 1996 he surprised some by appearing as host of the USA cable show Weekly World News, based on the outlandish supermarket tabloid of the same name.
Newman’s survivors include his wife and daughter.
