Pinecrest raising money for a Steven Sotloff memorial

Pinecrest has partnered with the Miami Foundation to collect donations toward a Steven Sotloff memorial at Pinecrest Gardens.

Sotloff, 31, the freelance journalist whose murder by Islamic State militants in September made headlines around the world, was born and raised in Pinecrest, where his parents, Arthur and Shirley, still live.

“I have known [Sotloff’s] parents, Art and Shirley, for years, and knew Steven since his birth,” said Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner. “Though he suffered a barbaric execution, publicized for the world to see, it must not be what we remember him by. Rather [we should remember] his desire as a young journalist to shed light on conflict and its impact on innocents all over the world. The Steven Sotloff memorial will shed this light for further reflection, to all who visit the Gardens.”

The grandson of Holocaust survivors, Sotloff spoke fluent Arabic and covered the Middle East for publications including Time, Foreign Policy, The Christian Science Monitor, The National Interest, Media Line, and World Affairs.

Sotloff preferred reporting from the ground, and his work often took him into the thick of action. From Egypt, he reported on the aftermath of military coup that ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi. In Libya, he covered rising instability following civil war as well as the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

While covering the Syrian civil war, he was kidnapped by ISIL in August 2013.

Donors can send a check to The Miami Foundation at 200 S. Biscayne Blvd., Suite 505, Miami, Florida, 33131. Checks should include the Fund name — The Steven Sotloff Memorial at Pinecrest Gardens Fund — in the memo line. Donations can also be made online with a credit card on the Foundation’s website at https://miamifoundation.org, with the fund ID: SOTL.

This story was originally published January 12, 2015 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Pinecrest raising money for a Steven Sotloff memorial."