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. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

''. 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 (2016 population: 1,023) is a Canadian village in Victoria County, New Brunswick. The mayor is Tom Eagles. History Plaster Rock’s first settlers were Hezekiah Day and his two brothers, who arrived in 1881. Plaster Rock was incorpor ...

, to

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

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), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

scholarship to the University of New Brunswick 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's racial conflict, the erection of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

in 1961,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

's welfare state, Israel's in-gathering of Jews and the

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

influx to Hong Kong from

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Nielsen was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University 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 children from a

Perth-Andover Perth-Andover (2016 population: 1,590) is a village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. Geography The village is divided by the Saint John River (New Brunswick), Saint John River with Perth on the east ba ...

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, 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. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The newspaper is published by Brunswick News. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' i ...

'' 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