Lenny Kravitz

I have never met Lenny Kravitz.  But I know his music... and I also worked with his father.

Lenny is the son of Sy Kravitz, a white Jewish-American News producer and Roxie Roker, a black actress best known for her role on “The Jeffersons.”  Lenny was coming into his own in the late 1980’s, when I was working as a TV News Anchor and Reporter for News 12 Long Island.

Our Assignment Manager, a TV News veteran named Hardy Mintzer, assigned me to cover a story about a flea market located at Republic Airport, a private aviation airport on Long Island.  Hardy told me to be sure I asked for Sy Kravitz, a friend of his who had been a news producer for NBC in New York. Sy Kravitz, I assumed, was no longer working in News as he was now managing this flea market.

I interviewed Sy about the flea market without knowing his connection to an up-and-coming performer named Lenny Kravitz.  All went well and I found Sy to be warm and gracious.

While I was putting together the flea market story, Hardy told me about Sy Kravitz's history.  He had married a black actress, Roxie Roker, and they had a son who was just making a name for himself in the music business.

Several months later, Sy Kravitz was hired to be on the Assignment Desk where he could work alongside his old buddy, Hardy Mintzer.  We would often talk about his days at the flea market where we first met.  And he was generous in his comments and critique of my work as a Reporter... and later as an Anchor.

When I left News12 Long Island in 1990, both Hardy Mintzer and Sy Kravitz were still toiling at the Assignment Desk.  Over time, the fond memories of them faded into the abyss inside my head, even as Sy’s son became a legendary rock star.