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After Doug Black got diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in May 1998, several of his classmates called to see how he was doing. But he was more interested in hearing about our lives than discussing his struggles. That was Doug -- always caring about others. Doug never complained, not even when he was dying of cancer. After graduating J-school, Doug barely got his promising journalism career started before becoming ill. He died July 16, 1998, just 26 years old. In the days after his death, Doug's classmates struggled to cope with the loss. More than a dozen classmates attended his funeral, and, in the days after his death, emails flooded the class-of-1997 mailing list. We quickly agreed we wanted to do something to honor his memory. Doug felt fortunate to be able to attend Columbia, and so we decided to start a scholarship to keep his dreams alive. The journalism school badly needs scholarship money. In recent years the school has concentrated on raising money for renovations, but now it's beginning to focus on the need for scholarship funds. Evan Cornog, who took over this summer as the associate dean for policy and development, said the school only gives out an average of $2,000 per student -- hardly enough for a $40,000 education. "What we should have is need-blind admissions, but that goal is a long way off," Cornog said. "Scholarship money is amazingly hard to get. It's a huge problem." Doug Black was born on Oct. 22, 1971 in Morristown, N.J., the son of Alistair and Mildred Black. After earning degrees from Hackettstown High School in 1990 and Gettysburg College in 1994, he spent two years working for the Hackettstown, N.J., weekly paper before enrolling in Columbia. His Columbia friends remember his generous heart and earnest soul, his love of ball caps and good beer, his unmatched work ethic. "I never heard him utter a negative word about a classmate, let alone any of his classes or professors," his close friend Laurie Brian J97 said. "He always found the good in every situation, whether it was commiserating with me about coming up with a story idea or offering encouragement." Lori Silberman J97 remembers the story Doug wrote for RWI about a Brooklyn AIDS hospice. "It was very moving and real and sensitive about their plight and the motivation of the women running the home," she said. ". . . He wrote with compassion and sensitivity to the human condition." His classmates remember how passionately he loved his girlfriend, Stephanie Dorezas, and how he glowed after she accepted his marriage proposal just before graduation. They were to be married this past summer. After graduation, Doug worked briefly for the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn., and for U.S. News and World Report. Before he left us, Doug told his mother that he was not ready to die because he still had so much to accomplish. We want to create this scholarship to give other talented young journalists the chance Doug never had. If you'd like to help, please send tax-deductible contributions to "The Doug Black Fund," Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 2950 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10027.
— By Jonathan Dube, Doug Black's J-school roommate |