The Spy lost a good friend and gifted writer a few days ago. Neil King, Jr. passed away after a courageous fight against cancer that ultimately took his life on Tuesday. We shall miss him terribly.
Neil generously contributed some of the best writing this publication has ever published after leaving a twenty-year legacy as the Wall Street Journal’s correspondent and editor. A wise, thin, and tall man, he had an almost Lincoln-like bearing about him, both in person and in his writing about an America he loved so much.
It is some modest compensation for this loss in knowing that Neil had a very rewarding moment in the sun as critics and prime-time outlets such as CBS Sunday Morning documented his rare talent after the publication of American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal two years ago. But in terms of unique gifts that he left behind for the Mid-Shore via the Spy, I hope our readers will go back to his masterpiece treatment of Frederick Douglass with his friend and photographer Jeff McGuiness as just one example of his powerful and elegant voice.
The Spy was lucky enough to have several video interviews with Neil when he was in residence in Claiborne from time to time, and we have selected our chat about American Ramble for our readers to remind ourselves what a loss this has been in the world of arts and letters.
This video is approximately five minutes in length
Dave Wheelan is the founder of Spy Community Media and executive editor of the Talbot Spy.
Beryl Smith says
I was so lucky to have come upon Neil’s book and read it with great interest. Then I was doubly blessed when he spoke in Chestertown and I could speak with him about some of his rambles that touched upon my life. He was a gifted writer and, although I certainly did not know him as a friend I would have like to have. He was an amazing person.