Jerome Lippman, Jewish World publisher
Jerome Lippman, publisher of the Long Island Jewish World and Manhattan Jewish Sentinel, was eulogized on Tuesday as “an exceptionally good man, and his memory will always be for a blessing.”
Addressing Lippman’s levya at Plaza Memorial Chapel on Amsterdam Avenue, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a longtime friend, said Lippman “was fiercely devoted to being an independent Jewish journalist,” something “that did not always win him friends in the community, but no one could question his integrity.”
“His fierce determination and commitment to amplifying Jewish voices through his newspapers was awe inspiring,” said his daughter Sarah Lippman Silverman, who recalled Lippman’s passion “about independent journalism, about Israel, about fairness and about justice.”
“It was his purpose,” she said. “And how many of us can say that we know our purpose even now?”
In a 1984 challenge that drew national attention, Lippman argued that a major Jewish philanthropy’s funneling charitable donations to support the Jewish Week newspaper was a bid to help that publication monopolize the 500,000-member Long Island Jewish community.
Lippman said that in addition to directing about $1-million a year to Jewish Week, the UJA-Federation-backed publication had been pressuring his advertisers to switch to their paper.
In a settlement, UJA-Federation agreed to place some of its advertising in the Jewish World.
The dispute occurred as Lippman was serving as president of the American Jewish Press Association, some of whose members were engaged in similar disputes that pitted Federation-backed papers against independent rivals.
Author Shira Dicker, who wrote for the Long Island Jewish World in the 1980s, recalled Lippman's “ideal newspaper — where he nurtured talent, he said ‘yes’ almost always, he gave us free reign.”
The newspaper “was an incubator, a phenomenal place to be. We covered important stories and we covered quirky stories. There was not a big budget, but armed with an assignment from the Long Island Jewish World we got in wherever we needed to get in.”
Lippman “lived every day with the purpose of making sure that newspaper was alive [and reflecting] the diverse views of the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, who presided at the service.
Lippman entered the newspaper business in the 1970s when he acquired the Williamsburg News and Coney Island Times. He soon moved beyond those Brooklyn publications and, with his wife Naomi Lippman, began his commitment to the Jewish World.
DiNapoli recalled that his last conversation with Lippman “ended with his favorite line — how many of you heard him say this? — ‘We got out another issue this week’.”
“I will always remember Jerry as a man who loved his children, was proud to be a Jew, and someone who looked at our world with a sense of wonder, curiosity and concern each and every day,” he said.
Sarah Lippman Silverman said friends and colleagues planned to honor her father by publishing two special editions of his newspaper, one a tribute, the other a retrospective.
In addition to Sarah and son-in-law Matthew Silverman, Lippman is survived by daughter Hannah Lippman (director of HAFTR's early childhood program) and son Michael Lippman. Shiva is being observed in Manhattan through Thursday night, and in Lawrence on Friday and Sunday.
