RIP Mr. Wes

Oh my my. The great master of the written word, Wesley Pruden, has passed away.  May he rest in peace.  As the Washington Times put it in his obituary:

 

Wesley Pruden would have wanted to spend his final hours at his keyboard, deftly deflating the pompous, entitled and arrogant of the political establishment, and he came awfully close.

The venerable Washington Times editor, columnist and journalism institution was found dead Wednesday morning at his home, after putting in a full day Tuesday at the newsroom on New York Avenue in Northeast D.C., where he had worked since 1982, four months after the newspaper’s founding.

He was 83.

I've read his work for decades, and I confess that my writing style was greatly influenced by his.  He had a decidedly non-PC, hard hitting, tongue-in-check truth to his commentary.  And he could rip into the pompous elite with acerbic wit like no other.

A true southern gentleman, his soft spoken charm and humility stood out even in his commentary regarding despicable people who probably deserve much less.  And his dipping into familiar Old-South idioms was a delightful dash of bitters on whisky drunk neat.

Rest easy, my old friend.  While it's doubtful anyone can carry your torch, some of us lesser mortals will do our best in keeping it aflame.

Wesley Pruden.  He loved writing. He loved life. He always wore a hat. He was sui generis.