MY FRIEND Uri Dan died yesterday. He was 71.
Uri touched my life for 25 years. I regret that it was limited to that time. And I regret that I didn’t press him more to stop smoking. Uri died of lung cancer.
He was a world-class journalist, an author of books read around the world, a worldly patriot of Israel, and an unabashed propagandist (in the best sense of the word) for his beloved homeland.
And he was a friend. He was my friend. I’m proud he was my friend and I’m better for it.
When Uri found out that Marcia and I wanted to be married in a Paris synagogue, he insisted on making all the arrangements – which turned out to be so complicated that it took the better part of a month to accomplish and had enough Byzantine twists and turns to fill a book. But he accomplished the task, found a friendly rabbi, rounded up upstanding witnesses and flew to Paris to take part in the ceremony. He was my best man.
I will always be grateful that Uri was in New York those unbelievable weeks of The Post rebellion in 1993 and saw my finest hours first-hand. One of my clearest memories of him was at a party of Post people given by one of our felon/publishers – at the top of the World Trade Center.
Memories of Uri include dozens of memorable dinners with him and his wife Varda all over the globe – from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Cairo to Paris, Manhattan and White Plains. I remember Uri and Varda at our home in White Plains feasting on Maine lobster for the first time. Good food was as important to Uri as good conversation.
I’ll never forget a dinner with Uri and another man that went into dessert before Uri informed me that our dinner-mate was the Mossad agent who arrested Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.
I have enough Uri stories to last me a livetime. I’ll make sure they do.
Uri was very loyal to his friends. He taught me how to be loyal in friendship. In a sense, I‘ll be keeping his memory alive in that way and I’ll do the best I can to honor him.
Marcia and I send our sympathy to Varda and Oron, their son.
Goodbye Uri. "Next year in Jerusalem!"
3 comments:
Woke up this morning, October 20th 2012 in sunny Tel Aviv, to the very sad news of Marc passing away.
Few hours later i rememberd he wrote something about Uri - my dad and his friend & colleague - back at the last days of 2006.
So here i'm reading it now again for the first time since then.
I don't have a blog but i do have my FB profile where i write and express myself. I'm going to write few words & share your blog there. This is the little i can do.
I had the prevelidge to know you Marc. Great memories from the Post and some dinners.
R.I.P dear friend - our love and thoughts to you Marcia and the family!
Varda & Oron Uri
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