Farewell Funnyman

Art Buchwald died on Wednesday. I didn’t know him, other than through his columns. But more than any one person he is the reason I became interested in a newspaper career some 40 years ago. As a high school student, I read his 400-word missives twice a week in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There was a local columnist there too, Elaine Viets, who I read just as religiously. I have no idea where Elaine is today. Hopefully she is well. The two of them had what I figured must be the greatest jobs in the world. So I followed their path into newspapering. I never quite made it as a humorist, as they did. But I’ve loved my time as a journalist, and owe them both, especially Buchwald, a debt of gratitude–as do so many who laughed and smiled at his words.