Peregrinations.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew
• Position: Memorials to late Progressive editor Erwin Knoll - Editorial - Obituary

The outpouring has been overwhelming. Since Erwin Knoll, the Editor of this magazine for the past twenty-one years, died a month ago, we've been inundated with calls and letters from subscribers, former colleagues, comrades on the Left, friends, and total strangers--all shocked by the news, all suffering the political loss as well, especially in these gloomy hours of Gramm and Gingrich.

We had two very Madison expressions of sympathy that Erwin would have enjoyed. The day after he died, someone flung open our doors, yelled "Erwin lives," and walked on. And then, when I came to work early this week, someone had written out in white and yellow chalk on the sidewalk in front of our office the complete text of the First Amendment. At the bottom, the person wrote: "We will not forget you." Erwin's name wasn't mentioned; it didn't have to be.

Memorial services were held across the country. In Washington, D.C., on Saturday, November 12, 130 people gathered to remember Erwin and celebrate his life. Pat Aufderheide, Daniel Ellsberg, Ralph Nader, and Daniel Schorr all spoke, and then about ten others stood up and reminisced about Erwin. Fittingly, an old family friend of Erwin's, David Rabin, who organized the event, played the cello with a few other classical musicians. Erwin loved classical music.

There was also classical music here in Madison at the memorial on November 13, attended by 450 people. Erwin's wife, Doris, requested Schubert's "Trout" Quintet, and as the musicians played, a peregrine falcon swooped outside the windows overlooking Lake Mendota.

Erwin's elder son, David, gave a wonderful eulogy, articulating what we all felt so deeply--that Erwin "visited a richness upon us." For my part, I talked about Erwin's courage, conviction, kindness, humor, and love. And I talked about something I neglected to mention last month in these pages: Erwin's invaluable helpfulness to young, up-and-coming journalists. In the last four weeks, I've heard from more than a dozen reporters who told me that Erwin published their first piece, or that Erwin gave them a push in the left direction. Indeed, Erwin was a great mentor to two generations of left-wing journalists.

And he was a great mentor to me. In the twelve years that I worked with Erwin here at this magazine, he taught me the trade: how to edit, how to write on my own, and how to speak in public. And he taught me politics--independent, unpragmatic, uncompromised, undiluted, visionary, radical...