James Klurfeld, former Newsday reporter and editorial page editor, dies at 81

James Klurfeld, the longtime Newsday journalist who as reporter, bureau chief and editorial page editor was credited with lifting the suburban paper into the pantheon of great American newspapers over a nearly 40-year career, died Tuesday after a series of illnesses, his family said. He was 81.

Starting as Smithtown beat reporter in 1968 and retiring 39 years later as vice president and director of Newsday's editorial pages, Klurfeld was part of an all-star collection of editors and writers who oversaw the paper's transformation from an afternoon publication to a morning daily that won Pulitzer Prizes and held its own against much larger urban broadsheets.

Along the way, Klurfeld developed an expertise in Mideast affairs and the American presidency while never losing track of typical Long Island issues such as municipal zoning disputes and the Shoreham nuclear power plant controversy, friends and former co-workers said.

Along with colleagues including Anthony Insolia, Phyllis Singer, Les Payne and longtime friend Howard Schneider, Klurfeld "created what became one of the eight or 10 best papers in the whole country," former Newsday editor Anthony Marro said on Wednesday in a phone interview.

"Nobody made more of a mark on Newsday’s coverage of not just Long Island but the world and how we went about it," former Newsday reporter and editorial page writer Lawrence Levy said in a phone interview. "Jim did about every tough job that a writer and editor would ever do. He was a great reporter [and] he was an innovator."

On Pulitzer Prize team

Klurfeld was part of a Newsday team that won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for stories exposing corrupt real estate deals. In 2024, he was inducted into the Long Island Press Club Hall of Fame.

He served as Albany and Washington bureau chief during the first 20 years of his Newsday career. He was named editorial page director in 1987.

After retiring from Newsday, Klurfeld turned to educating journalism's next generation as a visiting professor at Stony Brook University.

Klurfeld attended Syracuse University where he, Schneider and two other future Newsday journalists, Carol and Clay Richards, launched a campus newspaper. He and Schneider remained friends for 60 years.

"Jim loved Long Island. He was born and raised here. Loved swimming in the ocean," Schneider said Wednesday in an email.

"He railed against those who underestimated Newsday's audience. He liked to say that Long Island readers were among the most sophisticated in the country and hungered not only for local news, but national and international news. And he could write about all three with intelligence and perspective."

James Larocca, former president of the Long Island Association business group, said Wednesday he marveled when, as a young aide to then-New York Gov. Hugh Carey, he noticed Klurfeld always seemed to know where the governor would be and when.

"He was persistent, and his character and integrity were remarkable in every way," Larocca said.

A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Gutterman’s Funeral Home in Woodbury. Burial will follow at Wellwood Beth Moses Cemetery in West Babylon.

Klurfeld is survived by his wife, Judy, of Port Washington; a son, Jason, of Scarsdale; a daughter, Jennifer Schupak, of Port Washington; his sister, Elaine Berkowitz, of Miami; and four grandchildren.

'Loved being a journalist'

Jason Klurfeld said his father had struggled in recent years with Parkinson's disease and tongue cancer. He died at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.

He recalled going with his father to national political conventions and an interview with former President Jimmy Carter. His father enjoyed golf, jazz and classical music, reading, good food, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and his beloved Yankees, he said.

"He loved being a journalist. Every day he’d come home from work and talk about the issues," Jason Klurfeld said. "He had a very strong moral code and great integrity."

As editorial page editor, James Klurfeld oversaw a roster that included dozens of writers, editors, cartoonists, artists and journalism legends like columnists Murray Kempton, Jimmy Breslin and Sydney Schanberg.

Editorial cartoonist Walt Handelsman said Klurfeld was a supportive boss who "had a real love for Long Island" and was "very into cartooning."

Colleagues said Klurfeld didn't lose sight of the issues Newsday readers faced every day: traffic, political shenanigans, the economy and more traffic. 

"Jim was a wise, tireless advocate for Long Island, for needed changes and for preserving what’s best here," said his successor, Newsday opinion editor Rita Ciolli.

Levy and others noted Klurfeld recruited reporters to switch jobs and write editorials, believing opinion pieces needed to be rigorously researched. Klurfeld himself said as much in his LI Press Club Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

"Before I considered anybody for a job on the editorial page, they had to be a good reporter," Klurfeld said. "Because if you didn’t know the facts, the opinion didn’t matter."