Author Samuel G. Freedman Is Creating a Project to Preserve the Work of his Friend Jeff Schmalz, a Trailblazing Reporter Who Covered AIDS – Tablet Magazine

Author Samuel G. Freedman Is Creating a Project to Preserve the Work of his Jeff Schmalz, a Trailblazing Reporter Who Covered AIDS – Tablet Magazine

In 1990, Schmalz stood up at his desk, then collapsed. Though up until that moment he’d felt fine, he learned that he had a brain infection caused by AIDS. And he was outed. Not only did he have to process the fact that he had the disease, but also symptoms that often killed people within four months. Schmalz nonetheless went back to work. He covered the 1992 presidential campaign. Then he asked if he could cover AIDS. It was an unheard-of thing: A reporter creating his own beat and convincing his bosses to let him cover it despite his having the disease himself. But Schmalz had proved himself a brilliant reporter, and top brass trusted his ability to do his job. He spent the last 18 months of his life doing groundbreaking reporting (and beautiful writing) on the epidemic, while helping to change the culture of the newsroom. He died in 1993, at 39.