Robert Fredsø Nielsen (1922–2009) was a Canadian journalist who is known for his time with the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''. Nielsen was employed by the newspaper for 33 years and served in several capacities, including as a correspondent, foreign correspondent, chief editorial writer, editorial page editor, investigative reporter and editorial page columnist. Born in

Plaster Rock, New Brunswick Plaster Rock is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick. It is now part of the village of Tobique Valley. History Plaster Rock’s first settlers were Hezekiah Day and his two brothers, who arrived in 1881. Plaster Rock was incorpor ...

, to Danish immigrants Hans and Camilla Nielsen. He led New Brunswick in high school entrance examinations in 1936 and won a

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...

scholarship to the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

in 1940. He left UNB in 1943 to join the Canadian Press in Toronto, where he received basic training in editing and writing for newspapers. In 1945, he began a 33-year career with the Toronto Star during which he was successively a general reporter, Parliamentary correspondent, chief editorial writer, editorial page editor, foreign correspondent based in London and Washington, acting editor-in-chief and editorial page columnist. Some of his foreign assignments included

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's racial conflict, the erection of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

in 1961,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's welfare state,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's in-gathering of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and the

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

influx to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

from

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Nielsen was awarded a

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Fellowship is a fellowship from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. It awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1952 and a National Newspaper Award for Enterprise Reporting (now categorized as Investigations) in 1974. While on vacation in New Brunswick in 1965, Nielsen learned that a ratepayers' meeting had voted to expel all 45

Malecite The Wolastoqiyik, (, also known as the Maliseet or Malecite () are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the Indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territo ...

children from a

Perth-Andover Perth-Andover is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is now part of the village of Southern Victoria. History Andover was originally called Little ...

school—for no more substantial reason than their race. His reports to the Toronto Star led to national publicity and a second, much larger meeting of rate-payers who voted by a big majority to readmit the children. Robert Nielsen left the Star in 1978 and moved to the Perth-Andover, New Brunswick area where he continued his career as a freelance writer and pursued part-time studies at the

University of Maine at Presque Isle The University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMaine Presque Isle or UMPI) is a public college in Presque Isle, Maine. It is part of the University of Maine System and one of two University of Maine System schools in Aroostook County, Maine, Aroostoo ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in 1990. During this time, Nielsen was a columnist for the ''

Telegraph-Journal The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, owned by Postmedia Network. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is the only New ...

'' of Saint John, New Brunswick and also for ''Influence'' magazine. He died at age 87 after suffering an aneurysm.

References

1922 births 2009 deaths Journalists from New Brunswick Nieman Fellows People from Perth-Andover University of New Brunswick alumni University of Maine at Presque Isle alumni Canadian expatriates in the United States People from Victoria County, New Brunswick Deaths from aneurysm {{Canada-journalist-stub