52 McGs.

The Best Obituaries from Legendary New York Times Reporter Robert McG. Thomas

Robert McG. Thomas, Chris Calhoun

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2002
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9780743223737
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: Literature

Among his devoted fans, his pieces were known simply as McGs. With a "genius for illuminating that sometimes ephemeral apogee in people's lives when they prove capable of generating a brightly burning spark" (Columbia Journalism Review), Robert McG. Thomas Jr. commemorated fascinating, unconventional lives with signature style and wit.
The New York Times received countless letters over the years from readers moved to tears or laughter by a McG. Eschewing traditionally famous subjects, Thomas favored unsung heroes, eccentrics, and underachievers, including: Edward Lowe, the inventor of Kitty Litter ("Cat Owner's Best Friend"); Angelo Zuccotti, the bouncer at El Morocco ("Artist of the Velvet Rope"); and Kay Halle, a glamorous Cleveland department store heiress who received sixty-four marriage proposals ("An Intimate of Century's Giants"). In one of his classic obituaries, Thomas described Anton Rosenberg as a "storied sometime artist and occasional musician who embodied the Greenwich Village hipster ideal of 1950's cool to such a laid-back degree and with such determined detachment that he never amounted to much of anything." Thomas captured life's ironies and defining moments with elegance and a gift for making a sentence sing. He had an uncanny sense of the passion and personality that make each life unique, and the ability, as Joseph Epstein wrote, to "look beyond the facts and the rigid formula of the obit to touch on a deeper truth."
Compiled by Chris Calhoun, one of Thomas's most dedicated readers, and with a fittingly sharp introduction from acclaimed novelist and critic Thomas Mallon, 52 McGs. will win legions of new fans to the masterful writer who transformed the obituary into an art form.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreward
• Editor’s Note
• Chapter 1: Daisy Anderson, 97, Widow of Former Slave and Union Soldier
• Chapter 2: Lewis J. Gorin Jr., Instigator of a 1930’s Craze, Dies at 84
• Chapter 3: Ted Hustead is Dead at 96; Built the Popular Wall Drug
• Chapter 4: Jesse Hill Ford, 66, a Novelist Who Wrote of Race Relations
• Chapter 5: Anne Hummert, 91, Dies; Creator of Soap Operas
• Chapter 6: Milton Rubincam, Top Genealogist, Dies at 88
• Chapter 7: Mason Rankin, 56, Is Dead; Founded AIDS Group in Utah
• Chapter 8: John Fulton Is Dead at 65; Spain’s First U.S. Matador
• Chapter 9: Virginia Mae Morrow Dies at 70; Created Bridey Murphy Hoopla
• Chapter 10: Hal Lipset, Private Detective with a Difference, Dies at 78
• Chapter 11: R. V. Patwardhan, Hindu Priest with New York Verve, Dies at 79
• Chapter 12: Sidney Grossman, 91; Entrepreneur Headed Lumber Concern
• Chapter 13: Curtis L. Carlson, 84, Founder of Trading Stamp Conglomerate
• Chapter 14: Minnesota Fats, a Real Hustler with a Pool Cue, Is Dead
• Chapter 15: J. K. Stout, Pioneering Judge in Pennsylvania, Is Dead at 79
• Chapter 16: Sidney Korshak, 88, Dies; Fabled Fixer for the Chicago Mob
• Chapter 17: Francine Katzenbogen, 51; Gave Cats the Lap of Luxury
• Chapter 18: Nguyen Ngoc Loan, 67, Dies; Executed viet Cong Prisoner
• Chapter 19: Jack Biblo, Used Bookseller for Half a Century, Dies at 91
• Chapter 20: Kay Halle, 93, an Intimate of Century’s Giants
• Chapter 21: Hallie C. Stillwell, a Rancher and Texas Legend, Dies at 99
• Chapter 22: Marshall Berger, 77, Linguist with a Keen Ear For an Accent
• Chapter 23: Philip O’Connor, 81, Acerbic Memoirist, Dies
• Chapter 24: Toots Barger, 85, The Queen of Duckpins’ Wobbly World
• Chapter 25: Edgar Nollner, 94, Dies; Hero in Epidemic
• Chapter 26: Marguerite Young, 87, Author and Icon, Dies
• Chapter 27: Rev. Louis Saunders, 88, Dies; Buried Oswald
• Chapter 28: Douglas Corrigan, 88, Dies; Wrong-Way Trip Was the Right Way to Celebrity as an Aviator
• Chapter 29: Anton Rosenberg, a Hipster Ideal, Dies at 71
• Chapter 30: Edward Lowe, Cat Owners’ Best Friend
• Chapter 31: Maurice Sagoff, 88, a Master of Terse Verses on Literature
• Chapter 32: Robert Saudek Is Dead at 85, a Pioneer of Culture on TV
• Chapter 33: Fred Rosenstiel, 83, Devoted His Life to Planting Flowers
• Chapter 34: Sydney Guilaroff, 89, Stylist to Stars, Is Dead
• Chapter 35: Emil Sitka, Favorite Foil of Three Stooges, Dies at 83
• Chapter 36: Fred Feldman, Helicopter Reporter, Dies at 63
• Chapter 37: Frank Kurtz, 85, World War II Hero, Dies
• Chapter 38: J. Edward Day, 82, Postmaster Who Brought in the ZIP Code
• Chapter 39: Maria Reiche, 95, Keeper of an Ancient Peruvian Puzzle, Dies
• Chapter 40: Walter J. Kuron, of Red Baron Era, Dies at 102
• Chapter 41: Charles McCartney, Known for Travels with Goats, Dies at 97
• Chapter 42: Robert C. Johnston, Engineer, Is Dead at 85
• Chapter 43: Angelo Zuccotti, 89, Artist of the Velvet Rope
• Chapter 44: Patsy Southgate, Who Inspired 50’s Literary Paris, Dies at 70
• Chapter 45: Henry Gourdine Dies at 94; Master of Fishing Skills and Lore
• Chapter 46: George W. Crockett Dies at 88; Was a Civil Rights Crusader
• Chapter 47: David Longaberger, Basket Maker, Dies at 64
• Chapter 48: Manuel Elizalde, 60, Dies; Defender of Primitive Tribe
• Chapter 49: David Ludlum, Weather Expert, Dies at 86
• Chapter 50: Howard Higman, Academic Impresario, Dies at 80
• Chapter 51: Sadler Hayes, 86, Salesman of Insurance and a Partygoer
• Chapter 52: Mary Bancroft Dead at 93; U.S. Spy in World War II
• Chapter 53: Robert McG. Thomas Jr., 60, Chronicler of Unsung Lives