Dec. 10: Democratic Pollster Mark Mellman ’78 Dies at 70

Democratic pollster Mark Mellman ’78, who helped 30 senators and 12 governors get elected, and who fought for Israel even against members of his own party, died at age 70. — The New York Times

Leo Damrosch *68’s new biography Storyteller is a “thoughtful, informative biography of Robert Louis Stevenson,” the author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. — The New York Times

A local Washington, D.C., publication published a poem about teaching by Malachi Byrd ’19, the 2025 winner of the DC Poet Project who goes by the name MalPractice and teaches in area schools. — HillRag

Former first lady Michelle Obama ’85 said that the 2024 election showed the U.S. is not ready for a woman president and it has “a lot of growing up to do.” — NBC News

Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki ’91 said he was initially skeptical of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, but as he worked on his Oscar-contending documentary The Six Billion Dollar Man, he came to understand Assange as a victim of political persecution. — Deadline

New Yorker editor David Remnick ’81 discussed a new Netflix documentary he appears in, about the magazine’s 100th anniversary. — The Press Box

After two years at the helm, CEO Toni Townes-Whitley ’85 left the government services and IT company SAIC (Science Applications International Corp.). — Washington Business Journal

“These guys are way more walled off. And so you get a lot of these documentaries that the athletes are in control of their own image and you see these cameramen walking backwards as the great lordly athlete dressed to the nines strides through the bowels of this arena or that.”

— New Yorker editor David Remnick ’81, lamenting that basketball star LeBron James’ communications team said they’d rather control his image through social media or a ghostwritten book than allow a profile by the Pulitzer-winning journalist. — The Spun

Commentator Andrew Napolitano ’72 criticized Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ’03 over recent drug boat strikes, calling it a war crime to kill rather than rescue survivors. (The White House said Hegseth acted lawfully.) — Newsmax via Media Matters

Columnist George Will *68 also criticized Hegseth’s drug boat strikes, calling him a war criminal without a war: “An interesting achievement.” — The Washington Post

Crista Samaras ’99, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year who won silver and gold when she played on two U.S. World Cup teams, will be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame on Jan. 10. — USA Lacrosse

In a Q&A, Nobel economics laureate David Card *83 discussed applying data analysis to complex problems in university admissions, discrimination, the criminal justice system, and more. — Cornerstone Research

Homeland producer Howard Gordon ’84 is among the entertainment industry leaders creating the new Jewish Entertainment Alliance to address antisemitism. — Variety

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