Obit

Hamid Golpira, 55

Iranian American journalist Hamid Golpira died Tuesday, July 7, after a six-month battle with lung cancer. He was 55.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in the US to Iranian parents, Golpira moved to Iran in 2000 and joined the Tehran Times as staff writer. He later became the editor of the newspaper despite not having any previous journalistic experience. (“Senior journalist Hamid Golpira dies at 55,” Tehran Times, July 11, 2015)

He was also among the first group of journalists who were invited to the start-up Press TV which Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting launched in 2007. Golpira also appeared as a commentator for numerous news programs in Press TV and the English service of Sahar Universal Network.

Golpira continued to work for the Tehran Times and the Press TV until he was diagnosed with the disease January this year. He was also working on a book titled “Working for a Brighter Day,” which is a collection of his selected articles. (“Iranian journalist Hamid Golpira dies at 55,” Press TV, July 7, 2015)

Golpira is survived by his sister Roya who is currently living in the US.

Marlene Sanders, 84

Pioneering broadcast journalist Marlene Sanders, one of the first women television journalists in the US, died Tuesday, July 14 of cancer. She was 84.

Sanders was the first woman to anchor an evening newscast, filling in for colleague Ron Cochran in 1964 on ABC. Two years later, she reported from Vietnam, becoming one of the first network newswomen to report from the field. (“Marlene Sanders, TV News Reporter and Executive, Dies at 84,” ABC News, July 15, 2015)

Early in her career, she was a producer for the late journalist Mike Wallace in his Nightbeat local TV show in the 1950s (“Pioneering TV journalist Marlene Sanders dies,” USA Today, July 15, 2015). She also wrote, reported, and produced news and documentaries for WNEW radio in New York before she moved to ABC in 1964 where she worked for 14 years, also becoming the first woman vice president at ABC News where she led the network’s documentary unit.

Sanders moved to CBS News in 1978 and worked as a documentary correspondent and producer where she remained until 1987. She won 3 Emmy awards for her work in CBS Reports (“Marlene Sanders, Pathbreaking TV Journalist Dies at 84,” New York Times, July 15, 2015). After her stint at CBS, she became the host of several public affairs programs on WNET. She later joined  New York University as an adjunct professor of journalism where she remained  until her death.

She is survived by her son Jeffrey Toobin, a writer for The New Yorker and legal analyst for CNN, and two grandchildren.