Former Haaretz chief editor David Landau dies at 67
British-born journalist, seen as driving force behind English-language news in Israel, passes away; a religious Jew and avowed liberal, Landau taught generation of Israeli journalists.
Landau was born in London in 1947. After obtaining a law degree from University College London, he immigrated to Israel in 1970, where he lived in Jerusalem.
He was diplomatic correspondent and later managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, before staging a mass walk-out in 1990 over editorial interference by the newspaper's new owners.
Landau went on to set up and edit the English edition of Haaretz in 1997, before moving on to become the editor-in-chief of the entire newspaper in 2004, a post he held for four years. He was also the long-standing Israel correspondent for the Economist magazine.
In 2014, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to promoting relations between Israel and the United Kingdom and received his award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. He also collaborated with Shimon Peres on the former president's memoirs and recently published a biography of Ariel Sharon.
A religious Jew and avowed liberal, Landau was famous for his expertise in his field, his broad depth of knowledge on a wide spectrum of topics, as much as his tempestuous nature.
Former colleagues took to social media on Tuesday to pay tribute to him, sharing their fondest and most outrageous memories of the man who many saw as equally grand in intellect as in physical stature.
"He was a man who intimidated and impressed at once, inspired and encouraged, made young and eager writers like myself realize that there is a place for us in Israel, in journalism here," wrote one person. "May he spend eternity having brilliant arguments with God," wrote another.
"He travelled in rabbinical circles with the same aplomb that he moved in politicians’ bureaus, and was received with the same mix of reverence and apprehension in both. He was a man of uncompromising principles, towering intellect and incisive foresight: a journalist’s journalist whose integrity, above all, was his middle name," wrote the Haaretz US correspondent Chemi Shalev, who had also worked with him at the Jerusalem Post.
David Landau is survived by his wife Jackie and their three children. He will be laid to rest on Wednesday afternoon at Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem.
