From the archives: Farewells to veteran newsman Bob Greene

This story was originally published in Newsday on April 15, 2008

Investigative reporter and editor Robert Greene was lauded yesterday for changing the face of Long Island and the news business during a long and distinguished career at Newsday.

Bagpipes played and tears streamed down the cheeks of mourners as they left a funeral Mass for the pioneering journalist at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Kings Park. Greene, 78, died Thursday in Smithtown after a long illness.

Newsday reporters and editors past and present were among hundreds of mourners who recalled Greene's dogged pursuit of stories during his 37-year career at the paper.

In his homily, Deacon John Trodden invoked Newsday editor John Mancini, who said last week that Greene's stories changed laws and made life better for Long Islanders.

"Bob Greene absolutely lived the life of a good shepherd," Trodden said during the hourlong service. "Bob did not pass through life to nothingness."

Greene and his investigative reporters, known as the "Greene Team," won two Pulitzer Prizes for uncovering land scandals in the Town of Babylon and tracking the "Heroin Trail" from poppy fields in Turkey to the streets of Long Island.

But Greene, Trodden said, was a selfless and humble man who kept his journalism trophies and medals in a trunk in his garage. Greene even chastised his son, Robert Jr., when he wanted to put the awards out for public display.

"The Lord tells us not to celebrate what we achieved, but to celebrate what we did to help others achieve," Trodden said.

The rotund Greene cut an imposing, unforgettable figure during a career that began on the New York City Anti-Crime Committee and ended as a journalism professor at Hofstra University and Stony Brook University.

After joining Newsday in 1955, Greene grafted the principles of detective work to old-fashioned newspaper reporting and taught journalists to learn their beats inside and out. He helped found Investigative Reporters and Editors in the 1970s and launched the Arizona Project after a journalist was murdered in the Grand Canyon State. He retired from Newsday Enhanced Coverage Linkingfrom Newsday  -Search using:Company DossierNews, Most Recent 60 DaysCompany Profilein 1992.

His legacy can be seen in everything from Newsday'sEnhanced Coverage Linkingfrom Newsday's -Search using:Company DossierNews, Most Recent 60 DaysCompany Profile investigation of the state pension system to feature stories about animals.

Trodden joked that Greene would not be silent in the afterlife. "I am sure that he is making some very strong suggestions" in heaven, Trodden said.

A passage from the biblical book of Job, read yesterday by Sister Catherine Fitzgibbon, seemed to suggest Greene's journalistic immortality.

"Oh, would that my words were written down!" the excerpt read. "Would that they were inscribed in a record: That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut into rock forever."

Greene was buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Smithtown.