Walter Eldot criminal justice reports collection

Walter Eldot (1920-1987 June 30) was born in Germany to Jewish parents, he and a brother came to the United States in 1936. His family was separated in Germany and his father died in Buchenwald, a nazi concentration camp. In New York city, Mr. Eldot worked as a copy boy and took night-school classes, mostly in liberal and performing arts. He served four years in the Pacific Theater during WWII and afterward worked in New York as a reporter for Transradio News Service.

His 48 year journalism career was dwarfed by his extensive volunteer work and community activities, work that won him the 1969 award of the Duluth Round Table for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and a nomination to the Duluth Hall of Fame. Upon receiving the brotherhood award, he said, The spirit of brotherhood doesn’t require rewards or awards. It’s something each of us should live by.

Mr. Eldot began working at the Duluth newspapers in 1948. As an investigative reporter in the 1950s, he disguised himself as a derelict and stayed for several days at the Bethel Society, now the Port Rehabilitation. The story he later wrote describing life there resulted in improved conditions, treatment for tubercular residents and an invitation to serve on the Bethel board. He served on the board until his death. He was the editor of the newspaper’s Outlook and Sunday Cosmopolitan sections for many years. He also reviewed plays and symphony concerts. His friend and retired photographer Karl Jaros, said he and Mr. Eldot worked as a team: he said tearfully, I loved him very much. On assignments we were thinking like one person.

He experienced a period of poverty in childhood: he often voicing outrage over impoverished children in this area. In 1960, Governor Orville L. Freeman appointed Eldot to the Youth Conservation Commission, which acted as a parole board and overseer for people under the age of 21. He was a strong supporter of minority programs. In 1969, he was a driving force in revitalizing the American Indian Fellowship Association, said then-secretary Marlene Diver. He was always encouraging us, she said. He was so kind and gentle: he gave his all to us. I really loved him, she said.

For the last four years before his death, Eldot worked as the News-Tribune & Herald’s retirement and religion writer. For many years he spent evenings at nursing homes, entertaining residents with a mix of films, nostalgia, Q & A sessions, impromptu song-and-dance routines, and fun.

His wife was Goldie Eldot (died 1992 March 23) and they had daughters Marsha Devine and Elizabeth Eldot, and a son Jeffrey.