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The late Jason Sheftell, real estate writer for the Daily News and formerly the editor of WestView News, has twice been honored in recent months.

An October 10, 2013 article told of three internships established for CUNY graduate students in journalism. The internships, in Jason Sheftell’s name, will be for 12 weeks and pay $5,000 each. The newspaper’s editor in chief, Colin Myler, cited Jason’s love of journalism and eagerness to help young beginners in the field.

On March 27th of this year, at a gala fundraiser for Bailey House, a non-profit that benefits homeless persons with AIDS, Jason was posthumously named for the 2014 Real Estate Award. He had covered the charity and was considering joining the board before his death.

Born in Brooklyn, Jason was raised in Stamford, Connecticut, but moved to New York. After studying European history at the University of Pennsylvania he lived for awhile in Paris. Back in New York City, his first writing job was at Cigar Aficionado magazine. He later worked at WestView News. He joined the Daily News in March 2007. For the last 15 years, he lived in a West Village rent-stabilized two-bedroom.

As a real estate writer, he wrote about a many different subjects – houseboats, mansions, offbeat homes, but mainly he covered luxury condos. He clearly loved finding out all he could and highlighting any striking details.

The News writes:

“Sheftell’s enthusiasm for his work was evident in his last story . . . And was about flying by seaplane to ritzy Sag Harbor, L.I. ‘When we banked toward Brooklyn, the only thing below was the water,’ Sheftell wrote. ‘Straight ahead on its side, like us, was the Williamsburg Bridge. To the right was the New York City skyline, rising in all its glory.’”

He is remembered as a kind and big-hearted man. Yet occasionally, a final paragraph of an article suggested that he felt the need to skim over any community objection to a project. He would refer to the objections and then indicate that if he had the money, he’d be happy to call the place home. This even occurred when he covered a former nurses’ residence converted to luxury condos by the Rudin Corporation, which had appropriated all of St. Vincent’s Hospital and begun creating a luxury condo and townhouse affair to take its place. His former boss, George Capsis, Publisher ofWestView News, had devoted miles of ink to the effort to save the hospital. His care for Bailey House shows a different side of Jason Sheftell.

On Monday, June 17, 2013, after he missed a weekend family gathering, he was discovered still in his bed. The cause of death has not been reported, but it was completely unexpected. He was only 46.

He will be remembered for what was closest to his heart. Karen Sheftell, Jason’s mother, said, “Jason loved New York. Many Sundays he’d ride the subway and get off at a stop he didn’t know. Then he would just walk the city.”

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