A First-Time Mother, at Age 73
Is 73 too old to become a first-time mother? Not for the trailblazing Marylin Berger, who is now raising an 8-year-old boy from Ethiopia.
The New York Times describes Marylin Berger as “someone who knew her own mind.” Long before it was normal to see women on the news, Marylin Berger was the White House correspondent for NBC News. She would later go on to write for the New York Times. At 43, she remarried to Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes,” who passed away last year. At 60, she took up sailing and at 72, she began writing her first book. It was this book, about which the Forward recently wrote, that led her to Ethiopia and to motherhood.
Leah Berkenwald is the online communications specialist at the Jewish Women’s Archive, and a contributor to its Jewesses With Attitude blog, which cross-posts weekly with the Sisterhood.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chiefSupport our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
