Leon Zimmerman \u201959 loved sports, and he also loved writing. Even before he set foot on the Montclair campus, he wrote a few sports pieces for the Weehawken High School newspaper.<\/p>\n
Zimmerman chose Montclair because of its proximity to his North Bergen home, and because he earned scholarship support. The University hadn\u2019t yet launched a formal journalism program, pushing him toward the English major. Unfortunately, he had misjudged the commute. \u201cWithout a car of my own, I had to get rides from friends or take the bus,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt took hours every day!\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time he became a campus resident in his junior year, Zimmerman was already sports editor of The Montclarion and was writing for the yearbook. \u201cI really loved to write, and I wanted to write about sports,\u201d he says. \u201cI even took a minor in physical education. I had a great experience at Montclair, but when graduation day rolled around, I still wasn\u2019t sure what to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graduate study in journalism seemed like a good idea. He enrolled in the undergraduate courses he would need to qualify for a master\u2019s program \u2013 news writing, feature writing, editorial writing. \u201cI tried to do it all in one semester,\u201d he says. \u201cI was writing constantly. I was also exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of continuing with coursework, I got a job as a regional reporter for the Bergen Evening Record,\u201d Zimmerman continues. \u201cI was covering the towns in the southern part of Bergen County, and learned that I liked writing about local government, schools, and the community. When I could, I wrote sports stories for The Record.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, so began a noteworthy career in journalism.<\/p>\n
Zimmerman was only 21 when he began reporting. He graduated from night shifts as a regional reporter to days as a general assignment reporter, which expanded his reporting to politics and the courts. That included serving as the New Jersey State House bureau chief and politics editor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI covered what was one of the most closely watched murder cases in the state, which took place in Bergen County,\u201d he says. \u201cIn the summer of 1963, two police officers were slain at a tavern in Lodi. I lived nearby at the time and was on the scene before it was cleared. I later covered the trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
During nearly 13 years as a reporter Zimmerman was often a witness to history, reporting on the 1967 USA-Soviet Summit Conference between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Premier Alexei Kosygin at what is now Rowan University. He also covered U.S. Navy anti-submarine defense operations from an aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia as well as the 1968 New Hampshire Presidential Primary. In 1969 he was recognized by the American Political Science Association for \u201cDistinguished Reporting of Public Affairs.\u201d Some of his fondest memories include interviewing Yankees catcher Elston Howard on the day he won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award and being inducted into the Harness Racing Communicators Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Zimmerman followed his journalism career with roles in public relations and government affairs, advocating for tax reform at the request of William T. Cahill, in his first initiative as New Jersey Governor.<\/p>\n
The tales that led to Zimmerman\u2019s news pieces are now the backbone of a book with the working title, From Bylines to Storylines: Favorites of an Award-Winning Journalist and Government Insider, due for publication in the fall. \u201cI saved every byline I ever wrote,\u201d he notes with a laugh. \u201cI realized that the stories I wrote carried equally compelling backstories, as well as a lot of history. For example, I interviewed Yogi Berra when he was the spokesperson for the Yoo-hoo chocolate drink \u2013 which was, and still is, bottled in Carlstadt, NJ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zimmerman has also generously shared his experiences with students, most recently a seminar for English majors at ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ´«Ã½ University and as the keynote speaker for a Rowan University Commemoration of the USA-Soviet Summit Conference he covered as State House Correspondent for The Record. His contributions to Montclair also include a jazz record created in the 1950s by alumni and a collection of pictures. He is currently in the process of providing photos and stories he wrote about Yogi Berra, to be donated to the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been back to campus a number of times recently, for the seminars and also to visit my granddaughter who is a Montclair student,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m proud of Montclair\u2019s high rankings, and I am amazed at the current number of students and programs. There were only about 2,500 students on campus during my years here!\u201d<\/p>\n
Students, including his granddaughter, often seek Zimmerman out for counsel. \u201cNo two students are the same,\u201d he says. \u201cI give advice that relates to what they are interested in. And then I encourage all of them to follow their dreams with dedication and perseverance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For Leon Zimmerman \u201959, journalism was always the career goal. Little did he know that his Montclair English degree would lead to reporting from the hallowed halls of Yankee Stadium \u2013 as well as the corridors of the New Jersey State House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":451,"featured_media":216054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/451"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215994,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215992\/revisions\/215994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}