Journalist Gideon Samet passed away last night at the age of 84 after battling Alzheimer’s disease. Samet was a former columnist and editor-in-chief of Haaretz.
He was born in Tel Aviv, the son of Shimon, a journalist at “Davar” and “Haaretz”, and Anda. Samet grew up in a worker’s dormitory on Prog Street, attended the A.D. Gordon School and the 5th Municipal High School. In the IDF he served in the Artillery Corps, until he was burned and moved to serve in the Nahal Camp.
In 1971, Gershom Shoken, the editor-in-chief and publisher of Haaretz, appointed him editor-in-chief. Among other things, Samet initiated the series of articles on organized crime in Israel, as a result of which a state committee recognized its existence for the first time. He added writers Kattom Segev and Doron Rosenblum to the newspaper. After a decade in editing he was the newspaper’s messenger in the United States and upon his return he was a member of the editorial board and a columnist.
Between the years 1987 and 1994 he edited the magazine “Politics”, published by the Retz movement. Samet focused on politics and culture, society and architecture. He was a board member of the Geneva Initiative organization, a public body that works to promote a settlement with the Palestinians, and is involved in other public frameworks. In 1992-1993 he was appointed by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to the Foreign Ministry mission as Israel’s Consul General in Philadelphia.
Samet was active in various cultural institutions, and served, among other things, in the management of the stage theater and the founding team of the Mishkan for the performing arts in Tel Aviv.
He was married to Dr. Naomi Samet, a teacher at Ramat Hasharon High School and a parent counseling specialist. She died in 1999 after an illness. The couple has two children and five grandchildren.
