Danow was a meticulous organizer — maintaining a computer-based country-by-country history file of stories.

Like many journalists, he sometimes debated with his fellow JTA staffers over wording or story selection. But those clashes were always conducted with a high level of respect.

"With certain news developments that might not make the mainstream press, he was concerned that if JTA didn't report it, the world would not know it had happened," JTA publisher Mark Joffe said.

"He painstakingly documented every terrorist attack and every development in the battle for Holocaust restitution and justice — issues about which he cared passionately."

The news that he reported affected him as well. Many times during the past two and a half years, he discussed with colleagues the strains of reporting the daily violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Each death seemed to affect him personally.

Danow was a private person who preferred to keep his home and work worlds separate. He went regularly to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and he and his wife, Hidemi Kitajima, a pianist, regularly attended classical concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and were avid hikers on their trips to Switzerland.

Hidemi survives him, along with his brother and sister in law, David and Mirjana Danow.