Alfred Balk, Journalist and Author, Dies at 80-
Alfred Balk, a reporter, author and magazine editor who wrote groundbreaking articles about housing segregation and the Nation of Islam, and whose refusal to identify a confidential source led to a landmark court case, died on Thursday at his home in Huntley, Ill. He was 80.
The cause was colon cancer, said his wife, Phyllis.
Mr. Balk wrote for The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He edited Saturday Review and The Columbia Journalism Review and taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universities.
In 1974, he was the founding editor of World Press Review, a magazine consisting primarily of articles reprinted from the foreign press. The magazine ceased publication in 2004 but continues online at worldpress.org.
Mr. Balk rose to journalistic prominence in the 1960s with "Confession of a Block-Buster," an article for The Saturday Evening Post that revealed a speculator's methods of taking advantage of segregated housing by buying properties from white families and then selling them at inflated prices to black families.
Mr. Balk was sued by a homeowners group that wanted him to identify the speculator, for whom he used a pseudonym in the article. A Federal District Court ruled in Mr. Balk's favor, and in 1972 the Supreme Court let that decision stand.
Mr. Balk also collaborated with Alex Haley on a pioneering article tracing the rise of the Nation of Islam. Mr. Haley later expanded on this subject in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."
Alfred William Balk was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on July 24, 1930, and became a journalist in his teens, covering sports for his high school newspaper. He studied at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, began freelancing for magazines while stationed with the Army in Chicago and Japan, and then went to work at The Chicago Sun-Times.
Phyllis Balk, his wife of 58 years, said that at one point her husband read six newspapers a day and four books a week, even buying every newspaper on the newsstand while on vacation. He wrote or co-wrote several books, worked on task forces and committees dedicated to improving the news media, delivered commentaries on the media for the "CBS Morning News" and was elected president of the Society of Magazine Writers in 1969.
"He really believed in the integrity and power of journalism," said his younger daughter, Diane Balk Palguta of Indianapolis. "His life was dedicated to improving the media."
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Balk is survived by another daughter, Laraine Balk Hope of Rockville, Md.; a sister, Virginia Pickering of Fullerton, Calif.; and two grandchildren.
Alfred Balk, a reporter, author and magazine editor who wrote groundbreaking articles about housing segregation and the Nation of Islam, and whose refusal to identify a confidential source led to a landmark court case, died on Thursday at his home in Huntley, Ill. He was 80.
The cause was colon cancer, said his wife, Phyllis.
Mr. Balk wrote for The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He edited Saturday Review and The Columbia Journalism Review and taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universities.
In 1974, he was the founding editor of World Press Review, a magazine consisting primarily of articles reprinted from the foreign press. The magazine ceased publication in 2004 but continues online at worldpress.org.
Mr. Balk rose to journalistic prominence in the 1960s with "Confession of a Block-Buster," an article for The Saturday Evening Post that revealed a speculator's methods of taking advantage of segregated housing by buying properties from white families and then selling them at inflated prices to black families.
Mr. Balk was sued by a homeowners group that wanted him to identify the speculator, for whom he used a pseudonym in the article. A Federal District Court ruled in Mr. Balk's favor, and in 1972 the Supreme Court let that decision stand.
Mr. Balk also collaborated with Alex Haley on a pioneering article tracing the rise of the Nation of Islam. Mr. Haley later expanded on this subject in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."
Alfred William Balk was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on July 24, 1930, and became a journalist in his teens, covering sports for his high school newspaper. He studied at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, began freelancing for magazines while stationed with the Army in Chicago and Japan, and then went to work at The Chicago Sun-Times.
Phyllis Balk, his wife of 58 years, said that at one point her husband read six newspapers a day and four books a week, even buying every newspaper on the newsstand while on vacation. He wrote or co-wrote several books, worked on task forces and committees dedicated to improving the news media, delivered commentaries on the media for the "CBS Morning News" and was elected president of the Society of Magazine Writers in 1969.
"He really believed in the integrity and power of journalism," said his younger daughter, Diane Balk Palguta of Indianapolis. "His life was dedicated to improving the media."
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Balk is survived by another daughter, Laraine Balk Hope of Rockville, Md.; a sister, Virginia Pickering of Fullerton, Calif.; and two grandchildren.
Alfred Balk, Journalist and Author, Dies at 80-
Alfred Balk, a reporter, author and magazine editor who wrote groundbreaking articles about housing segregation and the Nation of Islam, and whose refusal to identify a confidential source led to a landmark court case, died on Thursday at his home in Huntley, Ill. He was 80.
The cause was colon cancer, said his wife, Phyllis.
Mr. Balk wrote for The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He edited Saturday Review and The Columbia Journalism Review and taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universities.
In 1974, he was the founding editor of World Press Review, a magazine consisting primarily of articles reprinted from the foreign press. The magazine ceased publication in 2004 but continues online at worldpress.org.
Mr. Balk rose to journalistic prominence in the 1960s with "Confession of a Block-Buster," an article for The Saturday Evening Post that revealed a speculator's methods of taking advantage of segregated housing by buying properties from white families and then selling them at inflated prices to black families.
Mr. Balk was sued by a homeowners group that wanted him to identify the speculator, for whom he used a pseudonym in the article. A Federal District Court ruled in Mr. Balk's favor, and in 1972 the Supreme Court let that decision stand.
Mr. Balk also collaborated with Alex Haley on a pioneering article tracing the rise of the Nation of Islam. Mr. Haley later expanded on this subject in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."
Alfred William Balk was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on July 24, 1930, and became a journalist in his teens, covering sports for his high school newspaper. He studied at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, began freelancing for magazines while stationed with the Army in Chicago and Japan, and then went to work at The Chicago Sun-Times.
Phyllis Balk, his wife of 58 years, said that at one point her husband read six newspapers a day and four books a week, even buying every newspaper on the newsstand while on vacation. He wrote or co-wrote several books, worked on task forces and committees dedicated to improving the news media, delivered commentaries on the media for the "CBS Morning News" and was elected president of the Society of Magazine Writers in 1969.
"He really believed in the integrity and power of journalism," said his younger daughter, Diane Balk Palguta of Indianapolis. "His life was dedicated to improving the media."
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Balk is survived by another daughter, Laraine Balk Hope of Rockville, Md.; a sister, Virginia Pickering of Fullerton, Calif.; and two grandchildren.
Alfred Balk, a reporter, author and magazine editor who wrote groundbreaking articles about housing segregation and the Nation of Islam, and whose refusal to identify a confidential source led to a landmark court case, died on Thursday at his home in Huntley, Ill. He was 80.
The cause was colon cancer, said his wife, Phyllis.
Mr. Balk wrote for The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications. He edited Saturday Review and The Columbia Journalism Review and taught at Columbia and Syracuse Universities.
In 1974, he was the founding editor of World Press Review, a magazine consisting primarily of articles reprinted from the foreign press. The magazine ceased publication in 2004 but continues online at worldpress.org.
Mr. Balk rose to journalistic prominence in the 1960s with "Confession of a Block-Buster," an article for The Saturday Evening Post that revealed a speculator's methods of taking advantage of segregated housing by buying properties from white families and then selling them at inflated prices to black families.
Mr. Balk was sued by a homeowners group that wanted him to identify the speculator, for whom he used a pseudonym in the article. A Federal District Court ruled in Mr. Balk's favor, and in 1972 the Supreme Court let that decision stand.
Mr. Balk also collaborated with Alex Haley on a pioneering article tracing the rise of the Nation of Islam. Mr. Haley later expanded on this subject in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."
Alfred William Balk was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on July 24, 1930, and became a journalist in his teens, covering sports for his high school newspaper. He studied at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, began freelancing for magazines while stationed with the Army in Chicago and Japan, and then went to work at The Chicago Sun-Times.
Phyllis Balk, his wife of 58 years, said that at one point her husband read six newspapers a day and four books a week, even buying every newspaper on the newsstand while on vacation. He wrote or co-wrote several books, worked on task forces and committees dedicated to improving the news media, delivered commentaries on the media for the "CBS Morning News" and was elected president of the Society of Magazine Writers in 1969.
"He really believed in the integrity and power of journalism," said his younger daughter, Diane Balk Palguta of Indianapolis. "His life was dedicated to improving the media."
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Balk is survived by another daughter, Laraine Balk Hope of Rockville, Md.; a sister, Virginia Pickering of Fullerton, Calif.; and two grandchildren.
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