I have set up this site to serve as a tribute to my friend Norman D. Sandler. He was an internationally renowned White House reporter for UPI during the Reagan and Bush administrations. More importantly, he was my best man. Also, we edited The Tech together in 1973/Volume 93.

C-Span has moved its entire archive onto the Internet. Said archive includes six appearances by Norman. I found it dreadfully difficult to watch him, especially because he was so good on television, yet never was able to work full-time in the medium. On the other hand, to see him and hear him again…
–Paul Schindler

A Celebration of the life of Norman D. Sandler

I spent July 6-9, 2007 in Washington, D.C. celebrating the altogether too-short life of one of my best friends (and best man), Norman Sandler. It was, as such occasions tend to be (and thank goodness I haven’t had to attend all that many), bittersweet; wonderful to see old friends, some of whom I had not seen in years, but sad to see them on such an occasion.

Raeanne Hytone, his ex-wife, was tireless in organizing the event at the National Press Club, held at 2pm on Sunday, July 8. she produced a lovely and tasteful program, as well as a fascinating exhibition in the 1st Amendment Lounge of pictures and souvenirs from Norman’s life. I am looking at the pictures of Norm on the program right now, and I am crying. As we kept saying to each other, this is so wrong and so sad.

The best memorial for Norman is MIT’s Norman D. Sandler (1975) Memorial Scholarship Fund.

If you knew him, or just feel like you know him because you’ve read this site and gained some insight into my deep affection for the man, put some money in the pot. The scholarship will go to a student from Iowa who can’t afford MIT (just like Norman in 1971), or to a political science student if there is no Iowa applicant with financial need.

Snail Mail:
Mark the check “Gifts in Memory of Norman D. Sandler.”
They should be sent, payable to MIT to:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
P. O. Box 412926
Boston, MA 02241-2926

His Washington Post Obituary

Norman Davis Sandler, 53, a White House correspondent for United Press International who later became a corporate communications and public relations official, died June 4 at his home in Washington. A spokeswoman for the D.C. medical examiner said the cause and manner of death is pending.

Mr. Sandler was director of Global Strategic Issues at Motorola, from 1994 to 2006, and vice president and counselor at the public relations firm Powell Tate from 1991 to 1994.

He was a native of Des Moines, and received both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975. At MIT, he was editor of The Tech, the student newspaper.

He began working at United Press International in 1975 and was Des Moines and Washington correspondent until 1981. He was White House correspondent for UPI from 1981 to 1991. He was president of the White House Correspondents Association in 1987.

Mr. Sandler received the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for Outstanding White House Coverage in 1990 and 1991 for deadline coverage of the U.S.-Soviet summit meetings.

He was the author of Congressional Oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency: Observations and Analysis (1974), 28 Years of Looking the Other Way: Congressional Oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency 1947-1975 (1975) and Telecommunications in Crisis: The First Amendment, Technology, and Deregulation (1983).

His marriage to Raeanne Hytone ended in divorce.

Survivors include his mother, Jacquelyn Sandler of Los Angeles; and three brothers.