[flipbook pdf=”http://jhsdelaware.org/Jewish%20Voice/Binder1.pdf”]

The article, “AKSE Cornerstone Dedication Kicks off Centennial Celebration”,  highlighted in the February 2018 issue of the Jewish Voice is over the byline of Zev Amiti.  Who was Zev Amiti?  None other than, “Bill Frank, legendary journalist,” as he was described by John Sweeney of the News Journal in an April 2012 article in Delaware Today.

William P. Frank was Delaware’s best-known journalist of the 20th century. His career spanned 65 years, during which he became the state’s foremost newspaper columnist and radio commentator. He was a Delaware historian, a Judaic scholar, a Shakespearean actor, and a social activist. Although he was listened to by powerful people, he made the concerns of ordinary people his concerns. Mr. Frank was born in New York City in 1905, but he grew up in Wilmington. He died in Wilmington on August 21, 1989. Most people knew him as simply “Bill Frank” or as Zev Amiti, his Hebrew name.

Bill Frank’s Delaware: Six Decades Through the Eyes of a Working Newspaperman, by Bill Frank.
Published to commemorate the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution in cooperation with The News-Journal Co., (Middle Atlantic Press, Wilmington, Delaware, 1987).

 

Reporter is honored

 

William P. Frank, a Morning News reporter and columnist, received a special award at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Delaware last night [June 17, 1979] at the Jewish Community Center. Frank has been a regular contributor to the federation’s newspaper, The Jewish Voice, under his Hebrew name, Zev Amiti, for the past five years. Simon Steinberg, chairman of the Voice newspaper committee, presented the award for Frank’s “significant contribution to the successful cultural growth of The Jewish Voice.” “Zev Amiti’s input has inspired The Voices‘ dynamic and varied coverage of local and national Jewish events,” Steinberg said. The award included a bound volume of Frank’s columns and stories that have appeared in the Voice during the last five years. There was also a compilation of letters of congratulations from friends and colleagues.

 

The Morning News, June 18, 1979, Wilmington, Delaware, page 10

 

Jewish Historical Society
to Honor Bill Frank

On May 22, [1986] at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware will honor someone who is not only well recognized by the State of Delaware but well known by the Jewish community as a leader in the need to preserve the history of the Jewish community.

Bill Frank is now in his 80th year, and has spent 62 of those years working as a reporter for the local newspapers. He still carries on a radio program as a commentator on Station WILM.

During all those years he has championed many issues, but the one issue that he never gives up is how to make the Delaware Jewish community become more aware of its history and its contributions both in manpower and actual deeds to the Jews and the general citizenry of Delaware.

The existence of the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware is due in great part to Frank’s efforts to preserve that history for generations to come. He is a charter member and past president of the Society.

The Jewish Voice, May 16, 1986, Wilmington, Delaware, page 1