Mel Opotowsky, the longest-serving board member in FAC’s history and a primary animating force in the organization’s founding, died last week at the age of 92.
We join his family, friends and many colleagues in mourning this loss, which leaves a big hole at FAC, where Mel fought passionately for the causes close to his (and our) heart – free expression, a free press, and the people’s right to know.
Mel served on FAC’s board of directors from its first meeting on May 10, 1988 until his death. He attended the board’s most recent meeting, and as recently as April 4 was emailing FAC staff with ideas.
The organization expanded during Mel’s long tenure from an all-volunteer organization with no staff and a debt of a few thousand dollars to what it is today: a robust and growing organization with a professional staff that shapes public policy, fights important court battles on open-government and First Amendment issues, and trains and educates journalists and others across the state.
Mel, a journalist his entire working life, was still plying his trade as late as last year – writing a piece about the retirement home where he lived with his wife, Bonnie.
He was recognized across California not just for his two-decade-plus run as an editor at the Riverside Press-Enterprise, but for his role in promoting open government, which veteran media lawyer Jean-Paul Jassy, also a FAC board member, described as singular in California, saying Mel did “as much as anyone in California and perhaps the country” to advance the cause of open government.
After working as a reporter at United Press International and later as an editor at Newsday, Mel came to California in 1973 to work as day editor at the Riverside Press, an afternoon paper that merged 10 years later with its sister morning paper to create the Press-Enterprise. He served as managing editor from 1992 until his retirement in 1999.
He was involved in the Press-Enterpise’s two U.S. Supreme Court cases, both of which set precedent establishing key First Amendment rights of access to court proceedings. See Press-Enterprise Co v. Superior Court, 478 U.S. 1 (1986) (First Amendment right to attend preliminary criminal hearings); Press Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 464 U.S. 501 (1984) (First Amendment right to attend questioning of jurors during jury selection).
In Dan Bernstein’s 2019 book, Justice in Plain Sight, about the seminal Press-Enterprise cases, Bernstein wrote that Mel “was above all else an aggressive, tough-minded newsman” who had an “acid, Groucho-Marx-like wit” and a “robust skepticism of politicians and bureaucrats.”
Mel carried that skepticism into his 36-year tenure with FAC, which established itself as a reliable source for educational services, policy advocacy, and litigation on open-government issues. Mel served as president of the board at its first meeting in May 1988 at the Viscount Hotel in Los Angeles, which fellow founding FAC board member Bruce Brugmann described as a “wonderful little hotel – a third-rate, Philip-Marlowe-type hotel. You could walk over to it from the airport. We met there because it was cheap and easy and had good martinis.”
Bruce and Mel were FAC’s two longest-serving board members until Bruce stepped down last month to join FAC’s Board of Special Advisors. Mel served for many years on FAC’s executive committee before stepping down from that role in 2020.
The California First Amendment Coalition, or CFAC, as it was originally called before dropping the “C” in 2009, was an outgrowth of an earlier effort Mel also helped lead, the California Freedom of Information Committee, which consisted of newsroom leaders from around the state and met once a year. The meeting minutes from the May 1988 inaugural meeting of the board noted that it had $5,644.82 in the bank – and that it owed $8,950.
FAC proved to have longevity. It survived some lean financial years to emerge in recent years as a vibrant, growing, and crucial part of California’s journalism and advocacy ecosystems, with a much larger staff (eight full-time positions) and budget ($1.4 million in 2024) than at any previous point in its history.
“Mel personified FAC for many years,” said Peter Scheer, executive director of FAC from 2004-2016. “He was our tough-minded, skeptical, demanding ‘managing editor’ – with a heart of gold. He made California journalists better. He made FAC better.”
Born on December 13, 1931 in New Orleans as Maurice Leon Opotowsky, Mel graduated from Isidore Newman School in New Orleans in 1949 and attended Tulane University before transferring to Williams College, where he graduated in 1953. He was drafted into the Army in 1954 and honorably discharged in 1956, said his son, Didier Opotowsky.
He started filing dispatches for United Press International from Kansas City, where he was stationed in the U.S. Army, Didier Opotowsky said, and moved to New York City to take a full-time job with UPI before moving to Newsday. Mel’s brother Stan Opotowsky was also a journalist who worked at UPI in New York as well as the New York Post, where he was managing editor before moving to several positions at ABC News.
Mel is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and four children: his son Didier and daughter Joelle Opotowsky, and two step-daughters, Keturah Persellin and Jamie Persellin. His first wife, Madeleine, died in 1991.
One of Mel’s most important roles at FAC was helping the organization find financial support; he energetically spread the word about the need for our work, inspiring philanthropic commitments that have contributed to our network of supporters. We pledge to carry forward the torch he ignited.