Aaron Britt

As you likely know, a great writer, pundit and my mentor William Safire died recently. It came as quite a shock as I’d seen him in March and he was as playful and impressive as ever. I had the chance, just after his passing in late September, to  remember him and my time spent in his emply for Newsweek. Here’s what I wrote about a truly sweet man who always remembered his better nature when leaping into the partisan and lexicographical fray.

He was just the kind of boss a young journalist needs: tough, exacting, willing to teach, and perpetually on my side. My year and a half as his researcher for On Language, his column in the New York Times Magazine, was utterly formative and heaps of fun. He is missed already.