Joan Bieder
Joan Bieder was called a “trailblazer” and a “connector,” a “stateswoman” and a “force of nature,” as alums, faculty and friends recounted her legacy that spanned well beyond her 26-year teaching career at UC Berkeley Journalism. She was beloved across generations of Berkeley students and colleagues.
Bieder was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and died on October 26 at her home in Kensington, California at age 83. She is survived by her nephew, Erik Bieder, niece, Julie Robson, and a large community of loved ones.
In the male-dominated news business of the 1960s and ’70s, Bieder worked her way from secretary to producer at ABC News where she produced stories with Peter Jennings for more than a decade. She taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism as an associate professor before coming to Berkeley Journalism in 1990. Under Dean Tom Goldstein, she was hired on a temporary basis that turned into a permanent role as a mainstay of the school’s television news program. In later years, she taught courses on covering Israel and Palestine and served as the school’s Associate Dean from 2008 to 2016 when she retired.
“She was utterly herself at all times,” said former Lecturer Robert Calo who worked by Bieder’s side in the television program at Berkeley Journalism for 16 years. “As a colleague, Joan was generous, warm, blunt and dignified at the same time, hilarious and dedicated to the work she believed in so passionately.”
Many echoed those sentiments.
“Joan was very direct — I loved how direct and clear she was. If she didn’t like something, you knew immediately,” said Sara Needham (’00), a former student of Bieder’s and a longtime documentary producer. “But she was also warm and supportive and had your back so you would succeed.”
Needham remembers the first time she saw Bieder walk into the school’s Upper Newsroom at North Gate Hall on the Berkeley campus. Bieder had just returned from Singapore, where she was consulting with news organizations and beginning work on her book “The Jews of Singapore,” which was published in 2007.
“I remember thinking, ‘wow this woman is a force of nature.’ She came in with this huge smile and this amazing energy,” said Needham, who liked working with Bieder so much that she did both a TV magazine project and a documentary while in Berkeley’s two-year program.
Needham called Bieder a connector of people, a hub for the school and journalism community, who kept in touch with students after graduation and throughout their careers. “The web of Joan spread really far,” Needham said.
A proud Joan Bieder (center) with alums at the 2015 News and Documentary Emmy Awards at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.
UC Berkeley Journalism Lecturer Cassandra Herrman (’01) said Bieder brought “journalism cred” to Berkeley and was a “trailblazer” as one of the first women television news producers and journalism professors at the school. She, too, loved Bieder’s classic New York directness and sense of humor.
When Herrman was 33 years old and finishing her degree, she went into Bieder’s office — where the door was always open — to ask whether she should do a double major, which would take an extra year.
“She looked at me and said, ‘Casey, how old are you? You’re no spring chicken. I think you need to get out there,’” Herrman recalls. “She was pivotal in launching me out of school.”
Now Herrman is a successful filmmaker and is teaching the J-School course that she took from Bieder decades ago.
Professors Joan Bieder and Cynthia Gorney at the 2016 commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley Journalism. Photo: Marlena Telvick
Colleagues said female students in particular were drawn to Bieder as a teacher and mentor, streaming in and out of her office at North Gate Hall. She was among the first women on the J-School faculty, joined the same year by Professor Emeritus Lydia Chavez and soon after by journalists Susan Rasky, Linda Schacht, Cynthia Gorney, Marcia Parker and others.
When Bieder helped to bring Peter Jennings to speak at the J-School under Orville Schell’s deanship, Herrman says Bieder’s female students were aghast when Jennings commented during the on-stage interview that Bieder had the best legs in the newsroom.
“I remember sitting there and thinking this is so terrible,” Herrman said. “And Joan laughed it off. She didn’t seem bothered at all. And later she said, ‘Well I did!’ To her, that was just the time, that was the era. It was refreshing. It didn’t appear that she was taking it personally. It was a great model for me and others.”
Former Documentary Program Director Jon Else worked at ABC News briefly while Bieder was at the network. He was later teaching at Stanford University when Bieder recruited him to Berkeley as then-Documentary Program Director Marlon Riggs had to leave due to health issues.
“When it was clear that Marlon couldn’t carry on, Joan orchestrated the teaching of his class by bringing in a dozen outside people,” Else said. Bieder was a colleague but also a friend to the filmmaker Riggs and cared for him before he died in 1994.
Else said that when he came to Berkeley from the “Wild West land of independent filmmaking,” he had no idea how to write anything journalistic until Bieder patiently showed him the ropes with her “copy edit hieroglyphics.” He said that although we think of her as a TV journalist, she was also an excellent writer.
“I didn’t become a journalist until I was grown up,” Else said. “And I have to thank Joan for guiding me through that marvelous path.”
Else said people may not know that Bieder’s high school prom date in Connecticut was Joe Lieberman, who was then a future senator and vice-presidential candidate for Al Gore.
“If it hadn’t been for a few hanging chads and a disappointing prom, she might be the first lady of the United States,” Else laughed.
Marcia Parker, the school’s former associate dean and longtime lecturer, met Joan in New York some 46 years ago. When Parker moved to the Bay Area to become the business editor at the Lesher newspapers in the early 1990s, Bieder encouraged her to teach at the J-School.
The two became friends, connecting beyond journalism about loved ones who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. In recent years, they saw each other regularly.
“Joan was a citizen of the world and she brought that global view of network news coverage and experience to the students in her classroom,” Parker said.
Parker said reporting and writing “The Jews of Singapore” — a deep dive into the history of Singaporean Jews, from Biblical times to the present day — was a highlight of Bieder’s life. She said the book is beautifully written and full of love and understanding cultivated through months spent in Singapore doing research and reporting.
Parker said that even though technology changed vastly through the span of Bieder’s career, she was always adapting to keep current for her students. “She was just that kind of person,” Parker said. (In fact, she was often seen wearing a thumb drive around her neck.)
A spirit of generosity and tenderness
Former Dean Geeta Anand called Bieder the school’s “elder stateswoman” who “reached across generations with so much warmth and wisdom.”
Even though Bieder had retired from the school a few years before, Anand said Bieder was supportive throughout her leadership — offering advice with “a spirit of generosity and tenderness.” Anand said Bieder knew the microscope that you’re under when you are among the first.
“Part of the reason she was so supportive of me is that she had stood in my shoes and she knew how hard it was to be a woman leader with the exceptional pressures you’re under, particularly when you’re making tough decisions,” Anand said. “She was the most supportive of my tough decisions, much more supportive than any of her male colleagues. She was generous and also courageous. She had the school’s best interest in mind.”
Professor Ed Wasserman, who served as dean from 2013 to 2020, said Bieder was essential to the school in the teens, during a time of “managerial upheaval.”
“She absolutely exemplified the School’s culture and professional style, and she was universally admired and respected,” Wasserman said. “As dean I found her delightful, insightful and endlessly humane. Joan’s judgment on matters ranging from classroom management to curriculum was impeccable, and there was never doubt about how much she cared about her colleagues and students. When she left I grieved.”
Former Dean Tom Goldstein said she was a positive force who took care of her students.
“She was a steady presence and helpful at a place that needs such a calming influence,” Goldstein said. “She provided it. She never raised her voice or complained.”
Colleagues say she had reason to complain as she struggled with arthritis from a young age, but managed it with grace and toughness. She frequently traveled to France for treatment in the mineral waters.
Joan Bieder at her packed retirement party in 2016 in the courtyard of North Gate Hall.
After retiring from the school, Bieder continued to be engaged with alums and staff — often returning for events and sharing news of her protégés’ accomplishments to amplify. She was also a generous donor to the school and encouraged others to give.
Bieder was also deeply engaged with UC Berkeley’s Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies as a faculty advisor. She was a member of Berkeley’s Congregation Netivot Shalom.
The last time Else saw Bieder was at Saul’s Deli, one of her favorite restaurants, just a few months before she died during one of his frequent lunches with her and Robert Calo. At lunch, Else said the trio usually gossiped endlessly about what the school was doing and the news of the day.
“Mainly we would talk about our former students,” Else said. “It was like the Grandparents Club getting together and showing off the Little League ribbons and soccer trophies.”
Else and others noted that Bieder was proud of her students, no matter where they landed in or outside of journalism.
Calo agreed. “Her dedication to students bridged generations,” he said. “Whether students or alums were big time in the business or out of the business, Joan took real pleasure not only in their accomplishments, but in their being. It’s part of the reason so many are so very saddened by her passing.”
Bob Calo and Joan Bieder in 2016.
A celebration of Joan’s life will be held at the UC Berkeley School of Journalism on Saturday, December 13, 2 to 4 pm. RSVP here. Watch the event remotely via Zoom here. If you would like to share photos or written reflections about Joan, please send to journalism@berkeley.edu.
UC Berkeley has set up a special fund where donations may be made in Joan’s memory. Your generous gift will directly fund initiatives dedicated to providing financial support to Berkeley Journalism students, ensuring that her passion for empowering the next generation of journalists lives on.
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Read an obituary of Joan Bieder published in the J.
