Dear Friends
I just learned that our friend and former UNICEF colleague, Reinhardt Freiberg passed away last week in Malaga, Spain.
May he rest in Peace !
Cordially yours
Francis Dubois
You may wish to post the sad news. It seems that it has not been reported by anyone yet.
Regards.
Malika Abrous
Sad news. May he rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear the sad news about Reinhard’s passing. He was a great colleague and a wonderful friend. After he retired and left New York, he sent me wonderful handwritten letters from time to time which both Stanley and I appreciated so much.
ReplyDeleteMay he RIP
Thanks Francis and so sorry to hear these news, Reinhard was a great friend and colleague, when I moved to Jerusalem in 1995 he was there - as a retiree living in Israel- to support us in our UNICEF work for the Palestinian children, he helped us so many times in complex situations with true humanitarian spirit. He shared his birthday - 27 June- with my daughter Elisa, born in Jerusalem, and he joined us in 1998 for her 2-year birthday party, with many Palestinian and Israeli kids playing with him, a memorable day with a special person indeed. Peace was in the air…missing him and that spirit very much these days.
ReplyDeleteNadia and I are greatly saddened by the passing of our very dear friend and my colleague Reinhard. He and I had almost the same years of service in UNICEF and we both retired in 1995. I had many dealings with him in his various postings over the years, but the one we both recall with the utmost fondness was his role (assisted by Umberto Cancellieri) in organizing and leading the visit of most of the top NatCom officials to Viet Nam in 1981. RYF was then in Geneva and I desperately needed to show the Viet Namese that UNICEF could and would help them even when most donor governments had stopped funding for Viet Nam because of their incursion into Kampuchea. Since these were basically NGO's it was easier to sell the idea to the Government that they came to see for themselves the difficult conditions of children and what the enormous needs were that required increased assistance. The visit was an overwhelming success (Jim Grant labelled it as "batting 100 %" in baseball parlance) and we started to see funds coming for our "noted" projects. After retirement our friendship became more close, especially when we met his partner Ernesto, and we had many pleasant social moments in New York, in Montreal at the XUNICEF Reunion, in Paris together with our mutual friend Christiane Fort..also XUNICEF...and through exchanges of correspondence during their and our travels. He was the true erudite, a gentleman, a sincere friend and an esthete, which were all endearing characteristics of his persona. We will miss him!
ReplyDeleteMay He Rest in Eternal Peace.
I met Reinhard Freiberg soon after joining Unicef in August 1990; he was coordinating several aspects of the World Summit for Children. He remains one of my favourite Unicef people, partly because of his delight in injecting humour wherever possible, leavening many a meeting with quips that quickly deflated anyone verging on pomposity. Here are two vignettes that speak to his kindness and principles.
ReplyDeleteA year or two after we met, Reinhard introduced me to Joan Liftin, an accomplished photographer/editor, including for Unicef in the 1970s (she died a year ago, see her bio here*). Joan told me how they became friends on a steep winding road in Peru. She was initially cool towards him, unable to separate the clearly German Reinhard from her revulsion at German WWII atrocities. But the winding drive had made her nauseous and they had to stop for her to be sick. As Reinhard leaned over to help her his Israeli passport fell out of his jacket as Joan, between vomit bouts, cried, “You’re Jewish!” That was that.
My last time with Reinhard is sadly apropos to today’s Gaza crisis. It was in Jerusalem in 2009 where, still charming, generous and funny, he lived half the year. The Holocaust was part of his family history; he said he often went to sit at (the memorial) Yad Vashem to honour them. He was also visibly distressed by the endless war against Palestinians, the huge separation wall near his apartment. When he insisted that I see the old city from one of its best vantage points, he put on a white T-shirt bearing a drawing of two peace doves and the Israeli and Palestinian flags.
A gem.
***
Link to Liftin obit:
* https://arts.arizona.edu/ccp-photographer-educator-joan-liftin-dies/
He was a special soul, May he rest in light. bilge Bassani
ReplyDelete