Name Richard Bergenheim Role Editor | Died July 2008 | |
Editor of Christian Science Monitor reaction to Jill Carroll arrests
Richard Bergenheim, CSB (1948 – July 20, 2008) was the former editor of The Christian Science Monitor, and President of The First Church of Christ, Scientist.
Contents
Career
After receiving a master's degree in English at the University of Birmingham in England, Bergenheim taught English at the Daycroft School, quitting after two years quitting to become a Christian Science practitioner in 1974. In 1982, he became a Christian Science teacher.
Bergenheim was editor of the Monitor during the kidnapping of correspondent Jill Carroll in Baghdad, Iraq by insurgents in January 2006. Bergenheim, who served as editor for three years, worked with FBI agents and other officials for Carroll's release. She was held for almost three months, and her Iraqi interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, was killed during her abduction.
Carroll had been a freelancer at the time of her capture. Bergenheim immediately placed her on staff so she would be eligible for financial compensation for the kidnapping. When Carroll returned to the United States in April 2006, Bergenheim was one of the first to greet her with a hug at Logan Airport.
Bergenheim, who was a member of the church's Board of Directors from 1992 to 1994, came from a publishing family. His father, Robert C. Bergenheim, founded the Boston Business Journal and was publisher of the Boston Herald American. The elder Bergenheim had covered Boston City Hall for the Monitor in the 1950s and was later manager of the Christian Science Publishing Society.