Sidney Zion

Sidney E. Zion (November 14, 1933, Passaic, NJ – August 2, 2009, Brooklyn) was an American writer. His works include Markers, Begin from Beginning, Read All about It, Trust Your Mother but Cut the Cards, (collections of his columns), Loyalty and Betrayal: The Story of the American Mob and Markers (a novel). He co-authored The Autobiography of Roy Cohn. He also was a co-founder and co-editor of Scanlan's Monthly magazine.

Zion graduated from University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School, working as a trial lawyer until becoming Assistant US Attorney for New Jersey in 1961. He then turned to journalism and writing novels. He worked for various New York publications, including the New York Times, The New York Daily News, the New York Post and New York Magazine. In 1971, after having been fired by the New York Times, Mr. Zion revealed the identity of Daniel Ellsberg as the source of the Pentagon Papers, the classified study detailing Washington deceit in Vietnam, then being published by The Times and The Washington Post. Although he was angry and tried to get back at the Times it is not clear why he thought revealing the name of a whistle blower and endangering him would help his cause. Many journalists regarded the disclosure as a breach of professional ethics, and Mr. Zion said he was a pariah among colleagues for a time.

He was a recipient of the Ben Hecht Journalism Award. He married Elsa H. Zion, and their daughter, Libby Zion died age 18 in New York Hospital. Her death and the subsequent investigation and trial led to improvements in hospital resident working conditions. Zion died in 2009 after a brief battle with cancer.

Mr. Zion was a Zionist and Jew who believed very strongly in the state of Israel. He made several trips there as a journalist and was a friend of many in the conservative government. He was a devout Jew in his private life.

Mr. Zion served on the Board of Directors (as well as council) of The Players in New York City, fighting the anti-smoking laws forced upon private clubs during the Bloomberg Administration, believing those laws to be unconstitutional.