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Obituary: Roland Giduz

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Staff

Roland Giduz, who was recognized recently as “a Chapel Hill Treasure,” died on Jan. 23, 2009, at his home in the loving company of family members.

His memorial service was held Monday, Jan. 26, 2009, in University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill.

Born on July 24, 1925, he acted for 83 years with vigor and in good faith for the betterment of Chapel Hill. He straddled town and gown as a scholar, reporter, photographer, politician and publisher. He enrolled in UNC in 1940 and enlisted in the Army in 1942. He served with the newly formed 100th Division in basic training, practice maneuvers and insertion into the Allied offensive in the Vosges Mountains of France in November 1944. He was wounded and evacuated back to America.

In 1946, he organized a reunion of division veterans that established a formal alumni association in which he was an active leader for more than 50 years. He re-enrolled at UNC and worked on the staff of the Daily Tar Heel until graduation in 1948. He studied at Columbia University in New York to earn a master’s degree in journalism in 1949, and also came away with Helen Jeter Giduz, whom he married on Christmas night in 1949. They were loving partners until his death. He returned to Chapel Hill for a career in journalism and public service. Voters elected him for 12 years service on the Board of Aldermen from 1957-1969, including a term as mayor pro tem. He was a founding partner of the Chapel Hill News Leader and worked variously for the Durham Herald-Sun, Chapel Hill Weekly, and News of Orange County.

He created and published for 16 years The Triangle Pointer weekly visitors guide magazine and was also associate director and alumni editor for the UNC General Alumni Association. He then worked for 15 years as director of public affairs for the media-oriented Village Companies, and finally retired in 1996. However, he continued to host a weekly local interview program for Time Warner Cable, write a column for the Chapel Hill Herald and publish his observations online as “The Codger Blogger.” He also compiled many of his “Newsman’s Notepad” columns into two books, Who’s Going to Cover’ Em Up? and Conversations on the Wall.

He was proud of his father’s graduation, magna cum laude, from Harvard, and was honored himself to study there in 1958-59 as a Mass Media Fellow through the Nieman Fellows program. He reactivated the Triangle area Harvard Alumni Association and served as it president in 1993. He was proud to represent this first American university by marching at the front of the procession for installation of several North Carolina college presidents. He was honored by many organizations for his commitment to educating, informing and documenting the history, stories and culture of Chapel Hill and Orange County. He won two North Carolina Press Association Awards, was named Chapel Hill’s Young Man of the Year in 1960, Citizen of the Year in 1976, won the Sertoma Service to Mankind Award in 1979 and recently received the Preservation Society’s first Horace Williams Award.

He was active in scouting throughout his life, and was honored in 1976 with the Silver Beaver Award and last year with the Occoneechee Council’s Lifetime Citizenship Award. Other civic endeavors included membership and leadership in the University Presbyterian Church, Jaycees, Rotary Club, Toastmasters, Friends of the Public Library, Chapel Hill Historical and Preservation Societies, N.C. Department of Transportation Train Host Association, and Masonic Lodge. He tended a planter on Franklin Street, donated his plasma and platelets to the Red Cross and loved singing, travel, UNC sports, vacations at Myrtle Beach and his family.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by one brother, Charles Graham, of New York City, and one nephew, Jon Graham, also of New York. He and Helen bore three sons, Bill, of Davidson, Bob, of Lenoir, and Tom, of Chapel Hill. All three are married and have seven children between them.

The family has suggested that tributes be in the form of gifts to the donor’s favorite charity.

1 thought on “Obituary: Roland Giduz”

  1. Lee Pollard says:
    November 12, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    I am sorry to learn of Roland’s passing. He has been a long time customer and tonight I had an epiphany that I had not heard from him in a while.

    I knew that he was in poor health but despite that, his larger than life personality is what I will always remember.

    I guess that there is a Heavenly Tarheel publication keeping everyone beyond the pearly gates up to date on Tarheel activities and the always intriguing Roland-Giduz point-of-view.

    Good-bye my friend.

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