COURAGE CHARACTERISTIC FRIENDS RECALL SUNNY, CARING PEARL.Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer BEL AIR Bel Air may refer to: Places in the United States:
Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi, Pakistan. was remembered Sunday not only as a journalist, but as a loving son, husband and friend: a person committed to helping others. Some 500 relatives, friends and dignitaries, including Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali, pasha of Egypt Muhammad Ali, 1769?–1849, pasha of Egypt after 1805. He was a common soldier who rose to leadership by his military skill and political acumen. , honored Pearl in a memorial service filled more with laughter than tears at the Skirball Center in Bel Air. ``He knew for sure that, no matter how complex the situation, some good fairy would take care of him - and she did for 38 years,'' Judea Pearl Judea Pearl is a computer scientist and statistician, best known for his prominent work on the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence, and in particular on Bayesian networks (see the article on belief propagation) and causal reasoning (see the article on Causality). said of his only son. ``So foreign was the idea of malice to his character that he could not conceive the concept of malice in the world around him,'' the father said. The journalist's father and friends recalled Pearl's uncanny ability to land on his feet and to talk his way out of predicaments, as when he persuaded a cab driver cab·driv·er also cab driver n. One who drives a taxicab for hire. cab driver n → taxista m/f cab driver n → to lend him his belt for a job interview. After Pearl was kidnapped, relatives and friends clung to the hope he would again talk his way out of a tight spot. Pearl grew up in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and graduated in 1981 from Birmingham High School Birmingham High School is a public coeducational high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of District One of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). in Van Nuys before going on to Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. . He was kidnapped on Jan. 23 in Pakistan, where he was working on a story about a possible link between shoe-bomb suspect Richard Reid Richard Reid may refer to:
At the Sunday service, Pearl's pregnant wife, Mariane, and his two sisters, Tamara and Michelle, were among speakers who paid tribute to him in the Skirball Center's Ahmanson Hall, which was filled with peach-colored tulips and other flowers. Public information about the invitation-only service came through a single pool reporter who was allowed to attend. Muhammad Ali, a Muslim, was invited because, early on, he denounced the abduction Abduction Balfour, David expecting inheritance, kidnapped by uncle. [Br. Lit.: Kidnapped] Bertram, Henry kidnapped at age five; taken from Scotland. [Br. Lit. and phoned the Pearl family during the ordeal. Pearl was a classically trained violinist who performed with a band in Washington, D.C., called The Clamp. At the service, band members played a song they had composed together, ``The World is Not a Bad Place.'' Mariane Pearl, who is expected to give birth to a son in May, recalled how she met her future husband at a party in Paris and how they planned their wedding in August 1999. They drew up a wedding contract pledging always to be open to new people and new cultures and to try to inspire others with their relationship. ``Living with him was like living in a comic book. So many things happened to us all the time,'' said Mariane Pearl, a French free-lance journalist. ``I was really amazed by his capacity for giving. ``Death is not going to separate me from Danny,'' she said. ``I've been everywhere with him. I make the commitment to enable him to live through me and through our son,'' she said. A family friend said Mariane Pearl has not yet decided where she will settle. Daniel Pearl ``wasn't afraid to live every day and wasn't afraid to love,'' said childhood friend Daniel Gill, who talked to reporters after the service. ``He was a terrific guy. I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. anyone who didn't like him,'' Gill said. ``We all thought he would get out of it all right.'' Gill, who became Pearl's friend when both were fourth graders at Lanai Lanai (lənī`), island, 141 sq mi (365 sq km), central Hawaii, W of Maui island across the Auau Channel; Mt. Lanaihale (3,370 ft/1,027 m) is the island's highest point. For many years the island was used for sugarcane raising and cattle grazing. Elementary in Encino, stood by his side at his wedding and received an e-mail from his pal two days before the abduction. ``We wanted to celebrate the life of Danny Pearl because this is a guy whose life deserved celebration,'' said Gill, a San Francisco attorney. ``We didn't want to mourn and cry and weep and beat our breasts. We wanted to tell stories about Danny and why we all loved him.'' ``And Danny was a universally loved guy. He was courageous and brave and not because he was a journalist out there in the trenches and doing things that were risky,'' said Gill, who helped organized the memorial service. ``I think he was courageous and brave because Danny, more than anyone I know, had the courage to live and to live well.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) After a memorial service Sunday in Bel Air for Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, a friend, Celia Webb, smiles at a life-size photo of his wife, Mariane, and him on their wedding day in 1999. He was kidnapped and murdered on assignment in Pakistan. Ann Johansson/Associated Press |
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