Baram, Robert 1919–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born February 8, 1919, in Newark, NJ; died April 10, 2005, in Delray Beach, FL. Journalist, broadcaster, educator, and author. Baram was a prominent journalist in Boston who first made a name for himself in the 1950s and 1960s because of his reports on the civil rights movement and racial tensions in the South. After earning his B.A. and M.A. at Boston University, he embarked on a lengthy journalism career. He came into prominence after 1956 when, as part of a team of journalists with the New England Weekly Press Association, he wrote a series of reports on race relations in Mississippi. His stories were published in the Boston Globe, and not long after that he became a broadcaster on station WGBH, hosting the "New England Views" commentary series. A strong supporter of young journalists, Baram also taught at the Boston University School of Journalism from the mid-1950s through the mid-1990s, and for thirty years he was director of the New England Scholastic Press Association. When Baram was not writing or teaching journalism, he indulged his other passion: poetry. He was the author of over half a dozen collections of verse, including The Shiny Penny (1968), Pot-Claws and Quince-Tarts: Poetry and Pictures (1974), and Illustrated Poems for Children and Grandchildren, Parents and Grandparents (1985).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 2005, p. A40.

ONLINE

Boston.com, http://www.boston.com/ (April 15, 2005).