James Lederman

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

The incomparable, late Paul Michaels was Jim’s friend, colleague and mentor. It was through their friendship that I had the fine fortune of meeting Jim. We - the Jewish people and indeed, the world - were the beneficiaries of Jim’s principled and clear-minded determination to do and write the right thing. Jim’s memory will always be for blessing.

Thinking of the whole family on this day. Shai I remember how happy he was at your wedding. From all you told me a good man

I will always remember the day that James and the familiy came to visit his son David when we were in the army, and James came prepared with a great assortment and of dishes that he had spent days preparing. The contrast of the delicious food with the army food made it one of the memorable meals of my life. He was a great man, learned, insightful, and helped raise a great family. My condolences to the all the family.

I knew Jim since the time we were in high school together in Forest Hill, way back in the 1960s. One year, we bought subion tickets to the TSO concerts together. We were together for our first year university at the University of Western Ontario. We were both active in politics. Jim joined the student NDP organization, and I joined the Progressive Conservatives. Together, we were delegates to the model parliament (an imitation of the real thing), and together we sponsored a bill to end capital punishment in Canada. It passed. We also joined a small group of students (all men!) who studied Talmud on Thursday nights with Dr. Block, a philosophy professor who was also the Hillel director and a Chabad hassid. Jim left Western after his first year, and soon thereafter was in Israel sending in reports to the CBC, including during the Six Day War. It was the beginning of a 50 year career as a journalist in Israel, the longest of any foreign correspondent in the country. During that time, he was awarded a fellowship at Harvard University. The result of his research there was his book, Battle Lines, about how the media covers the conflict in the middle east. I would visit Jim and his family whenever I was in Israel, and he was always a gracious host at his home in Ramat Motza. When Jim returned to Toronto, we would frequently have interesting discussions, mostly on the phone. He never lost his interest in world events and many other subjects, from science to literature and music. He was a true polymath. I will miss him! May Jim's name be for a blessing.

My deepest condolences to the Lederman family