Stern was born in Brooklyn. He quit Syracuse University to begin a career as a journalist and crime writer.
As a World War II combat reporter he reached Rome a day before U.S. troops. He lived there for 50 years after the war, writing on mobsters and other topics.
His books include "An American in Rome" and "Into the Jaws of Death."
In 1978 he joined philanthropist Zachary Fisher to rescue the USS Intrepid from a scrapyard and turn it into a popular sea, air and space museum.
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