Liviu Floda (born Adolf Leibovici; August 16, 1913–June 3, 1997) was a Romanian-American journalist and commentator.

Biography

Floda was born on August 16, 1913 in

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, in a Jewish family. In 1932 he began his career in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

by writing for such newspapers as ''

Adevărul ''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...

'', ', ''Semnalul'', and ''Jurnal''. In 1936 he obtained a master's degree from the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

and in 1946 both a doctorate in economics and in political science from the same institution. From 1940 to 1944, he was assistant principal at the Cultura B

lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...

in Bucharest, and from 1947 to 1948 he was a lecturer at both the Commercial Academy and at the college of the

Museum of Science The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentat ...

. In March of the same year, he was laid off as a teacher by the Communist authorities after their rise to power in Romania. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he worked for ''Jurnalul de dimineață'' and ''

Libertatea Libertatea is a Romanian daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. It was founded on December 22, 1989 (12:45 p.m.), by Octavian Andronic, as "the first independent newspaper of t ...

''. He could not work as a journalist for some time, so he focused his skills onto co-authorship (with Ștefan Tita) of a play called '' The Living Flame'', which ran from 1957 to 1958. In 1964, he emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he was hired by

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

and worked under the pseudonym ''Andrei Brânduș''. At RFE, he worked with Romanian exiles such as Preda Bunescu, , Mircea Carp,

Neculai Munteanu Neculai Constantin Munteanu (n. 16 November 1941, Pufești, Vrancea County) is a Romanian dissident. Through his shows on Radio Free Europe he became known for condemning Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime, which lasted until 1989. His shows were secret ...

, Emil Georgescu, Emil Hurezeanu, Victor Eskenasy, , , Raluca Petrulian, , Justin Liuba, Constantin Alexandroaie, Silvia Cinca, and Iacob Popper. Among the people he interviewed for RFE were

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

George Emil Palade George Emil Palade (; November 19, 1912 – October 7, 2008) was a Romanian cell biologist. Described as "the most influential cell biologist ever",

Jean Negulesco Jean Negulesco (born Ioan Negulescu; – 18 July 1993) was a Romanian-American film director and screenwriter.Oliver, Myrna"Jean Negulesco 1900–1993 ''The Los Angeles Times'', 22 July 1993. He first gained notice for his film noirs and later ...

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...

Andrei Codrescu Andrei Codrescu (; born December 20, 1946) is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He is the winner of the Peabody Award for his film ''Road Scholar'' and the Ovid Prize for p ...

Andrei Serban Andrei Șerban (born June 21, 1943) is a Romanian-American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings. In 1992 he became Professor of Theater at the ...

Radu Lupu Radu Lupu (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time. Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teach ...

, and

Viorica Cortez Viorica Cortez (born 26 December 1935) is a noted Romanian-born mezzo-soprano, later French by naturalisation. Starting her operatic and concert career in the mid-1960s, she went on to become one of the most prominent female performers of the '7 ...

. In 1972, Floda retired from Radio Free Europe, but continued working as a freelance journalist. When RFE got shut down in 1993, he continued working for the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, and then left to assemble his archives for the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

. Floda also worked for the Israeli newspapers ''Viața Noastră'' and ''Facla'', and for ''MicroMagazin'' and ''Mele'' in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. He was a member of the

American Newspaper Guild The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practices ...

, the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

, and the

American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences (ARA) is a scholarly organization dedicated to the analysis, study and dissemination of Romanian contributions and accomplishments. To enhance these efforts, ARA combines Western and Romanian intel ...

before he died on June 3, 1997.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Floda, Liviu 1913 births 1997 deaths People from Brăila Romanian people of Jewish descent University of Bucharest alumni Romanian journalists Romanian emigrants to the United States American male journalists 20th-century American journalists Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers American people of Romanian-Jewish descent