Jay Berman was 21 years old when he walked into the Daily Breeze newsroom on the Redondo Beach waterfront for the first time in August 1961.
Just weeks out of journalism school at USC, he would embark on a lifelong career path that on Friday, June 9, drew scores of accolades and memories from friends, former students and writers as news spread of his death following a long illness. He was 83.
Services are pending. He is survived by his wife, Irene Machuca, and a son, Dennis, from a previous marriage.
A true friend, mentor, writer, teacher and editor, with a dry sense of humor; someone who was genuinely kind — the praise spilled out across Berman’s social media pages and in emails on Friday.
“There was nobody on planet earth I admired more,” said Larry Welborn of Chino Hills, a former Orange County Register reporter who is a past president and chairman of the California Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), where Berman taught aspiring high school journalists for years. “As a teacher, he was unparalleled. He was the best copy editor I ever worked with.”
And, in a comment repeated often by so many, “He was an all-around good guy.”
Berman, who lived in Manhattan Beach with his wife of many years in the house he’d bought in 1974, loved the Angels, didn’t like the Dodgers so much. He also was a passionate fan of USC athletics.
He and his wife traveled extensively, visiting Europe numerous times. But their favorite place? Vancouver, Canada.
Todd Harmonson, senior editor of the Orange County Register, the flagship of the Southern California News Group, was only 16 years old when he first met Berman.
“He was one of the instructors at the summer (CSPA) journalism workshop back when I was a high school student,” Harmonson said. That was in 1985.
The two reconnected in later years at the Daily Breeze, where Harmonson was on the sports staff at the time, and became good friends.
When Harmonson had to cover USC in the Las Vegas Bowl on…
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