Dick Kleeman, 91, winner of the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2000 Wells Key, was memorialized Dec. 27 at a remarkably joyful gathering of journalism, neighborhood and family friends in Rockville, Maryland. Dick died Dec. 5. He was preceded in death by his wife, Roz, who died July 18, 2014. She was 92.
Dick at one time chaired the SDX/SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. He joined the staff of what was then the Minneapolis Tribune in 1946 and won five national awards as the paper’s education writer. In 1955, he and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carl Rowan traveled through the American South exploring segregation; Kleeman contributed to Rowan’s subsequent book “Go South to Sorrow.”
He came to Washington in 1966 to work in the Tribune’s bureau in the capital, where he made his mark covering the civil rights movement and the George Wallace presidential campaign in 1968.
Roz and Dick hosted D.C. Pro Chapter leaders every summer for the transition board meeting where new officers and board members took over from those who led the chapter the previous year. The presence of a cooler of refreshments and substantial potluck spread next to the Kleemans’ welcoming pool guaranteed a short business meeting.
He left journalism in 1972 to join the Association of American Publishers and head its Freedom to Read efforts.
During World War II, Dick, who was trained in the Japanese language, served as a translator at a secret prisoner of war camp at Fort Hunt, Va., just outside of Washington. Until 2007, when its classified existence was revealed — it had been known only by its mail address P.O. Box 1142 — his wartime activities were mostly unknown.
He was born June 24, 1923, in New York. After his military service, he graduated from Harvard College with the class of 1944.
Over the years Kleeman served on local boards for the Harvard Club and Planned Parenthood, and on Planned Parenthood’s national board.
In her own right, Roz had a multifaceted and successful career, including helping to found Minnesota’s Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and working with eventual U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey when he was mayor of Minneapolis.
The Wells Key recognizes meritorious service to SPJ and the journalism profession.
In his nomination letter for Dick that year, Russell E. Hurst said: “During my nearly two decades as the Society’s executive officer (1962-81), there were few people outside the national officer ranks who could match the dedication and sterling contributions of Dick Kleeman. His service to the Society epitomized what an individual member of a voluntary organization can contribute — and, in Dick Kleeman’s case, brilliantly and selflessly.”
Dick and Roz are survived by daughters Nancy, Alice and Katherine and son David, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.