Sendoff for journo who ‘found truth’
PULITZER PRIZE winner Les Payne was celebrated at his Tuesday funeral for the power of his words and the commitment of his search for life’s greater truths.
“His life is a testament to the truth that the pen is mightier than the sword,” the Rev. Calvin Butts told mourners inside Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church.
Some 350 people — including former Mayor David Dinkins — turned out for the farewell to Payne, who died March 20 at the age of 76.
He spent 37 years at different positions for Newsday, both on Long Island and with its shortlived Manhattan edition.
“I believe he is in the conversation as one of the greatest newspapermen ever,” said former Newsday reporter George E. Jordan. “I know for me, he made me better than I was ever supposed to be.”
Other ex-colleagues fondly recalled Payne as a man of integrity, an advocate for justice and a fighter for racial equality.
“He had the intellect of (W.E.B.) Dubois, the fearlessness of Malcolm X and the physical presence of Sonny Liston,” said Randy Daniels, who met Payne while covering the struggle for Zimbabwe’s liberation in the ’70s.
“You could not have a better friend,” said Daniels. “He was a good and decent man. He lived an exemplary life.”
Payne, in addition to winning one Pultizer as a reporter, went on to oversee projects that won another five for Newsday.
His son Jamal recalled Les Payne as “the very first superhero I ever knew,” a man who mentored scores of young journalists across the decades yet always managed to find time for things at home.
“With him, family always came first,” said Jamal. “I am comforted in knowing he lives on in all of us.”