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Former ‘Jewish Exponent’ Editor Dies at 80
O B I TUA RY
SELAH MAYA ZIGHELBOIM | JE STAFF
JOURNALIST MARILYN
Laudenslager, a
former Exponent editor, died on Feb.

1 in Medford, N.J., leaving
behind a legacy that includes
hundreds, if not thousands,
of articles on local Jewish
communities. She also leaves behind
an extended family of sib-
lings, half-siblings, children,
grandchildren, stepchildren,
step-grandchildren and step-
great-grandchildren — many of
whom are better writers because
of her influence.

Laudenslager, who wrote
under her first married name
Marilyn Silverstein, was 80
when she died.

“She took every comma,
every period, every word seri-
ously,” said Josh Silverstein,
Marilyn Laudenslager
Photo provided
Laudenslager’s youngest son.

“She believed in the power
and importance of the written
word and was just very careful
to try to get it right.”
Her decades as a journalist
include 17 years at the Jewish
Exponent, from 1985 until
2001, where she worked as the
religion editor and features
editor. “She wanted to go after
assignments that made things
right,” said Fredda Sacharow,
who served as the Jewish
Exponent’s managing editor
from 1986 until 1998. “She
wanted to write about the
homeless in Philadelphia. She
wanted to write about things
that she saw that could be made
better by stories that she did.”
Laudenslager pursued top-
ics others felt were a shanda for
her to cover, including clergy
abuse and the trial of Rabbi
Fred Neulander, who was con-
victed of hiring two men to
kill his wife. Laudenslager also
went undercover to report on
the Jews for Jesus movement.

Homelessness in the Jewish
community was one of the
topics she was most passion-
ate about covering, even when
her articles were not neces-
sarily flattering to the Jewish
community. After leaving the Exponent
in 2001, she continued to com-
mit herself to Jewish writing.

She spent eight years at the
New Jersey Jewish News, where
she served as the Princeton/
Mercer/Bucks bureau chief.

She also worked as a freelance
copy editor and edited a pleth-
ora of Jewish writing, includ-
ing Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish
Responsibility, A Guide to
Jewish Practice by Rabbi David
Teutsch and the quarterly
journal The Reconstructionist.

She also did copyediting for
The Forward and the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.

Her work won her numer-
ous awards, including from
the American Jewish Press
Association and the New Jersey
Press Association.

“She had a passion there
for the Jewish community that
kept her doing that work,” Josh
Silverstein said. “Even long
after she left, she loved building
rapport and relationships with
rabbis and having discussions
with them about Jewish cus-
toms and teachings. That’s just
really where she developed her
network, her sources. It was all
there. Even when she left the
Exponent, she wanted to keep
that and wanted to continue to
have a hand in talking about
things of importance to the
Jewish community.”
Laudenslager is survived
by her husband Richard J.

Laudenslager; three sons
from her first marriage, Bob,
Steven and Josh Silverstein;
brother Harold Schachter;
half-siblings Judy Miller, Rania
James, Bonnie Wassall and
David Schachter; five grand-
children; five stepchildren;
12 step-grandchildren and 15
step-great-grandchildren. l
szighelboim@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
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