Former Maariv editor Yaakov Erez passed away Friday morning at the age of 87.
Erez, a Sokolov Prize winner, was behind many exclusive stories and investigations, most notably a series of reports he sought to publish on the eve of the Yom Kippur War detailing the Egyptian army's preparations for a surprise war against Israel.
These reports were blocked by military censorship.
Erez wins the Sokolov Prize
After the First Lebanon War, Erez, together with Avi Bettelheim and Avraham Tirosh, published a series of investigations about the war, for which the three received the Sokolov Prize.
During his years as head of the news department and later as editor of Maariv, Erez nurtured a long line of young journalists, including Yair Lapid, Ben Caspit, Sima Kadmon, Raviv Drucker, Ofer Shelah, Boaz Bismut, Yoav Limor, Avi Ashkenazi, Eli Kamir, Amir Buchbot, Gili Dinstein, Mordechai Haimovitz, Ron Levin, and Moshe Assulin.
Erez is survived by his wife, three children, and five grandchildren.