Joseph M. Hochstein ’55

Joe was born Aug. 15, 1933, in New York City, and died June 26, 2011, in Tel Aviv, Israel, of liver disease.  

Joe never sought lots of money, but insisted on independence and worthy living. His paper, The Jewish Week, purchased with his father, Philip Hochstein, in 1965, won many American Jewish Press Association awards for major stories, including the 1977 takeover of the B’nai B’rith building in Washington by Hanafi Muslim gunmen, the 1978 signing of the Camp David Accords, and the daily vigil held in the 1980s at the Soviet Embassy on behalf of Soviet Jews. In 1983, Joe moved from McLean, Va., to Tel Aviv, where he co-wrote The Jews’ Secret Fleet: The Untold Story of North American Volunteers Who Smashed the British Blockade.  

Joe experienced two great losses: the death of his wife, Anne, and the killing of his son, Marcus, by Hezbollah. Joe not only covered the great Jewish story of our time in the rebirth of Israel; he lived it intensely. He made aliyah (immigration to Israel), was wounded in 1996 by a suicide bomber, and lost a son, not yet 21, serving in Lebanon. Amidst the joys of life in Israel, he endured great tragedy.  

To read more, go to www.princeton55.org.