OLD BRIDGE, N.J.
-- Alan Fredericks, CTC, a consummate journalist who shaped Travel
Weekly for nearly 40 years as writer, editor, columnist, manager
and mentor, died of cancer at his home here on July 31. He was 70.
He served as
editor in chief for most of his career, earning a reputation as one
of the industrys most influential travel journalists and publishing
executives, garnering numerous honors and awards.
Fredericks guided the publication
through a period of explosive growth in the 1970s and 80s when
Travel Weekly established itself as one of the nations leading
trade papers in terms of advertising lineage and editorial output.
At Travel Weeklys peak as a twice-weekly publication, Fredericks
directed the largest full-time editorial staff in the travel trade
publishing industry, with news bureaus in Boston, Chicago,
Honolulu, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Washington.
He also eagerly
embraced the era of electronic publishing in the 1990s when he
spearheaded development of TW Crossroads, Travel Weeklys
award-winning Web site, now at TravelWeekly.com.
As Travel Weekly
became the centerpiece of a family of publications, he served as
editorial director for a range of related publications in the U.S.
and overseas, including Meetings and
Conventions, TravelAge West, Travel Weekly (U.K.), Travel
Management Daily (now defunct), and others.
At the time of
his death, he was an editor-at-large for Travel Weekly and vice
president and editorial director of its parent company, Northstar
Travel Media.
Equally at ease
conversing with CEOs of multinational corporations or mom-and-pop
travel agents, he was a sought-after speaker at industry events and
was widely acclaimed as a moderator and interviewer at conferences
and seminars.
Travel Weeklys
editor in chief, Arnie Weissmann, called Fredericks death a great
loss.
Alans influence
on the essence of what Travel Weekly is as a publication has
already lasted long beyond his day-to-day involvement with the
paper, Weissmann said. His template for business journalism was
simple: Maintain integrity, a sense of fairness, a crisp style of
writing and a deep understanding of the roles that people play in
making businesses work. We intend to keep it alive.
George Hundley,
CEO of Northstar, said, Alan was a Renaissance man. He knew about the world because of his extensive
travel and natural curiosity, but he also knew about baseball,
movies, literature and the fine arts. He was a great writer and
editor and an excellent business person. More than anyone else, he
built Travel Weekly. He was the personification of the publication.
I personally learned a great deal from Alan, and for that I will be
forever grateful.
From the
Bronx
Fredericks was
born in New York on Sept. 11, 1934, as Alfred Israel. He grew up in
the Bronx, attended the Bronx High School of Science and received a
Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University.
Under the pseudonym Alan Fredericks, which
he later adopted as his legal name, he began his career as a radio
broadcaster in 1954 and for the next 11 years worked as an
announcer, newscaster and deejay in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New
York. In New York he achieved local fame as the host of the Night
Train show, which featured 1950s vocal groups and the musical style
that came to be known as doo-wop.
He dabbled in
record promotion and talent management and briefly represented a
struggling guitarist and singer, Peter Yarrow.
After their
parting, Yarrow found a path to stardom with the folk trio Peter,
Paul and Mary.
Fredericks moved
from broadcasting to the print media in 1966 when he took a job
with the Associated Press wire service, where he was assigned to
the rewrite desk.
Later in 1966, he
was hired by Travel Weekly founder Irwin Robinson as an associate
editor and was promoted to managing editor the following
year.
In that role, he
helped supervise the transition of the paper from a weekly to a
twice-weekly publication in 1969. He became the papers top editor
in 1972, a position he retained until 1997.
In 1987, he was
named vice president and editorial director of the parent company.
For a time in the 1980s, he also held the title of associate
publisher.
Master of
Arts
He found time to
continue his education, earning an M.A. in Liberal Studies from the
New School for Social Research in 1987. He also earned a Certified
Travel Counselor designation from the Travel Institute, formerly
the Institute of Certified Travel Agents.
His broadcasting
background gave him an ease before microphones and cameras that
provided an added dimension to his career as a journalist and
commentator.
He appeared
regularly in the 1990s on closed-circuit TV programs at major
industry conventions and trade shows and was often called upon by
major news organizations for comment when world events affected the
travel industry.
Over the years,
he appeared on numerous radio talk shows across the country and on
a number of national news programs, including ABCs Good Morning
America, CBS Evening News With Dan Rather and CBS Morning
News.
During the Gulf
War, Fredericks recorded a daily hot line news broadcast,
accessible by telephone, to update readers on late-breaking
stories.
He also kept up
an association with the broadcasting industry, filling in as a
substitute deejay from time to time on WCBS-FM in New York, where
he participated in several New York Radio Greats Reunion broadcasts
in the 1980s and 1990s.
An adroit
pianist, he sometimes surprised colleagues with his easy renditions
of popular standards and show tunes. A travel industry convention
delegate some years ago wandered into an industry hospitality suite
and remarked how nice it was that the hosts had hired live
entertainment -- only to find moments later that Alan Fredericks
had happened upon a vacant piano.
A writer with a
direct and engaging style, Fredericks delighted readers since 1992
with his popular Traveling column. His writings reflected his
own wide-ranging interests and personal insights from the business
of travel, its people and places.
He once said he
decided to call his column Traveling because its a word that
enveloped all of the inner and outer journeys of life.
One long-time
colleague described him as a humanist who understood the power of
travel as a source of enrichment as well as its
limitations.
In a column
several years ago about his favorite places, he wrote that he
ranked his favorite trips not so much by place, but by the memory
of shared experiences with friends and loved ones.
He wrote, The
magic that people search for when they travel doesnt come from the
place. It comes from the heart. [Favorite Places, July 25, 2001]
Honors
and awards
Among his many
honors and awards was his appointment in 1994 as a delegate to the
White House Conference on Travel and Tourism, where he served on a
travel industry committee that developed recommendations for a new
U.S. tourist office.
In 1995,
Fredericks was the first representative of the trade press to
receive the American Society of Travel Agents Melva Pederson Award
(now known as the Travel Journalist of the Year Award) for
contributions to travel journalism.
He was the 1999
recipient of the American Business Medias G.D. Crain Award,
annually bestowed upon an individual who has made outstanding
contributions to the development of editorial excellence in the
business press.
In 2001, he
received the Winthrop W. Grice lifetime achievement award for
communications from the Hospitality Sales & Marketing
Association International.
Fredericks was
inducted into the Travel Industry Associations Hall of Leaders in
2005, in recognition of sustained and distinguished contributions
that have had a positive impact on the overall travel and tourism
industry.
He is survived by
his wife, Cathy; their daughter, Caitlin; two sons by a previous
marriage, Lon and Todd; and a brother, Jerry. Burial was at the
Maplewood Cemetery in Freehold, N.J.
The family
suggested that those wishing to make memorial donations may
contribute to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Box
27106, New York, N.Y., 10087.
Get
More!
For more
details on this article, see:
" Alan Fredericks: A master storyteller
" Tributes to Alan Fredericks