RIP, Herbert M. Sandler, 1931–2019

By Richard Tofel & Stephen Engelberg @ ProPublica.org, June 5

[....] He and Marion built a hugely successful business, and when they sold it, they turned full time to philanthropy, committing to give away the vast bulk of their wealth. (You can read more about Herb’s remarkable life here.) One of the first major projects they launched in this next phase of their lives was an initiative to support investigative journalism. They understood as early as 2006 that the inevitable demise of newspapers’ business model threatened a crucial pillar of our democracy — accountability reporting. The couple recruited Paul Steiger, the just-retired managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, as ProPublica’s first editor and backed his vision for a nonprofit newsroom publishing original deep-dive investigations in partnership with leading legacy media.

Why did that vision appeal to Herb Sandler? Why did he have so much respect and even affection for investigative journalists? He always gave the same answer: “I hate it when the bad guys win.”

And while he read what seemed like every story this site ever published, and pointed out even the smallest typographical error, he was always insistent that our editorial operation be completely independent [....]