Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel dies at 96
Such a wonderfully crusty guy. I met him at a restaurant in the Loop a year or so ago - the other three people in my party had each met him previously, one more than 25 years before, and Studs remembered every moment of those occasions. And went on a long rant about how he hated the term “downsizing,” because he thought it was a load of crap.
Here’s the link.
He was a writer and historian, author of Working, Giants of Jazz, and many other wonderful books. Here’s an online bio, for those of you who don’t know who he is. I’ll excerpt a few lines:
[QUOTE=http://www.studsterkel.org/bio.php
]
Studs Terkel, prize-winning author and radio broadcast personality was born Louis Terkel in New York on May 16, 1912. His father, Samuel, was a tailor and his mother, Anna (Finkel) was a seamstress. He had three brothers. The family moved to Chicago in 1922 and opened a rooming house at Ashland and Flournoy on the near West side {LISTEN}. From 1926 to 1936 they ran another rooming house, the Wells-Grand Hotel at Wells Street and Grand Avenue {LISTEN}. Terkel credits his knowledge of the world to the tenants who gathered in the lobby of the hotel and the people who congregated in nearby Bughouse Square {LISTEN}, a meeting place for workers, labor organizers, dissidents, the unemployed, and religious fanatics of many persuasions. In 1939 he married Ida Goldberg and had one son.
[/QUOTE]
I am officially sad.
I just started another thread. I’ll paste my OP below and if someone will report the one I opened, I’ll be grateful.
Here’s the link.
He was a writer and historian, author of Working, Giants of Jazz, and many other wonderful books. Here’s an online bio, for those of you who don’t know who he is. I’ll excerpt a few lines:
[QUOTE=http://www.studsterkel.org/bio.php
]
Studs Terkel, prize-winning author and radio broadcast personality was born Louis Terkel in New York on May 16, 1912. His father, Samuel, was a tailor and his mother, Anna (Finkel) was a seamstress. He had three brothers. The family moved to Chicago in 1922 and opened a rooming house at Ashland and Flournoy on the near West side {LISTEN}. From 1926 to 1936 they ran another rooming house, the Wells-Grand Hotel at Wells Street and Grand Avenue {LISTEN}. Terkel credits his knowledge of the world to the tenants who gathered in the lobby of the hotel and the people who congregated in nearby Bughouse Square {LISTEN}, a meeting place for workers, labor organizers, dissidents, the unemployed, and religious fanatics of many persuasions. In 1939 he married Ida Goldberg and had one son.
[/QUOTE]
I am officially sad.
I wish he could have lived to see Obama in office.
Ok, missed this. I’ll post again what I did in that thread and then that one can be closed.
I wish he had lived to see Obama in office.
not a good week for writers.
a very good writer and quite a man.
A wonderful human being. That’s the highest compliment I can give anyone. I will be drinking to him tonight. God bless you, Studs. There will never be another like you. I’m actually misty-eyed.
For a couple of years in the early 90’s I lived one street north of Studs here in Chicago and would often run into him waiting at the bus stop at the end of my street (yes, he often took the bus downtown). He was always very friendly and I ended up having several interesting conversations with him. Go in peace, sir.
Wow. I guess I forgot to include him on my list . . . I used to live one block way from Studs in Uptown, and we would occasionally ride the bus together. During Reagan’s re-election campaign, I wore a vintage campaign button that said, “Richard Nixon, Now More Than Ever,” with a ceramic pin of a flexed bicep (“strongarm”) under it. Studs got a huge kick out of that, and thereafter we’d always chat a bit whenever we rode the 151 together. I saw him once after that, wandering through the intermission audience at a Laurie Anderson concert, randomly interviewing audience members. We chatted again for a few, and then he moved back into the crowd. I think that was the last time I saw him. Sad, very sad.
A fine, fine man, and a life well lived. One of a kind. Rest in peace.
I once heard him on a Prairie Home Companion skit as “Studs Turkelsen.” Did a funny job of it! 
will miss his voice. will miss his writing. at least he gave everyone so many wonderful books and lived such a long full life.
Another writer whose work I enjoyed. He will be missed. Thanks to those who posted stories of having met him.
Sad, but he lived a good long life and did great work. An example for us all.
I’ll tip a pint to ol’ Studs the next time I walk through Bughouse Square.
A truly great man. He will be missed.
Too bad - a great man. He used his eloquent voice to tell the stories of modern America.
I’ll miss you Mr. Terkel…
I listened to his show for years and he annoyed me by upstaging his guests relentlessly by inserting himself into every story, but the thing was, he was IN (nearly) every story! A gadabout who was everywhere.
And I will never forget his description of how Big Bill Broonzy connected with audiences in Europe in the immediate aftermath of WWII (as remembered by dz): “When I sing to blues audiences in the US they are mostly students and singing that ‘my mule died’ has only an abstract meaning to them. When I sing it to an audience in Italy they understand how catastrophic that could be.”
From Eva Luna’s article:
Damn it that it had to be just a few days short. Still, he seems to have been aware enough to realize that Obama was going to win. I hope anyway.
What a guy. What a legacy. What a life.