Dave Behrens dies at 84; ex-Newsday reporter inspired young writers

One thing — but not the only thing — former Newsday editor Howard Schneider remembered about Dave Behrens was that he was a writer who loved to keep things in perspective, particularly when trying to explain changes in American society.

“He was a student of American history and could understand the impact of those changes,” said Schneider, now dean of the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University. “The paper had a lot of confidence in him and his judgment.”

From 1968, when he was hired by Newsday as a reporter, until he retired in 2004, Behrens had a career through which he witnessed many of the changes facing American society. In fact, in the 1970s when the women’s movement was beginning to burgeon, Behrens was assigned by the paper to cover the movement as a beat, making him a unique witness to social history as it evolved.

“Dave recognized that news wasn’t only something that happened yesterday,” Schneider said. “He perceptively chronicled the seismic shifts in the way the country was changing, in terms of youth culture, the women’s movement and life on Long Island.”

Behrens, who lived in Manhattan, died March 24 after a brief illness, said his wife, Patricia McGovern. He was 84.

A graduate of Cornell University where he majored in English, Behrens took a job at the New Haven Register newspaper in Connecticut and then joined the Miami Herald until he was hired by Bill Moyers at Newsday in 1968, McGovern said.

At the Miami Herald, Behrens became a colleague and close friend of Fred Bruning. Both men moved to Newsday about the same time, recalled Bruning, and carved out long-standing careers at the newspaper.

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“He was a dedicated reporter and liked the process of getting the word out; that is all he wanted to do,” said Bruning, who retired the same day as Behrens did in 2004.

As a show of the confidence Newsday had in Behrens, the newspaper tasked him with a variety of projects, including an 8,000-word story on the death of a heroin addict. Not long after coming to Newsday, Behrens became a part of “The Heroin Trail,” the celebrated, groundbreaking series that in 1974 won a Pulitzer Prize, recalled McGovern.

With a deft writing style, Behrens eventually became a go-to feature writer for Newsday and an inspiration for younger reporters, Schneider said.

“I never remember him complaining about an assignment or turning in anything that was short of his best effort, Schneider said.

Behrens was not only well read, but also had eclectic interests and became steeped in the history of 1940s and 1950s movies, Bruning remembered.

After retiring, Behrens took to writing a children’s book titled, “The Oddest Sea of Charlemagne,” and was penning short stories about the themes of terrorism and anti-Semitism, Bruning said. Those works were not published.

Behrens was interred Saturday after a service at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in upstate Hawthorne, said McGovern, adding that a memorial service is planned.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.