Sadly, Studs Terkel has gone the way of history

A "real person" hero of mine died today, Halloween 2008.

Studs made the largest impact on the world by recording oral histories of the "everyman" and collecting them, edited, into volumes.

A true humanist and a believer in our individual spirit, he died today at the age of 96. He would record hours of people's stories then mine them for the gold nugget of truth and perspective. He believed that everybody had a story to tell.

"My discovery was people needed to be needed by others, need to count; that's the word," he said in an interview with the AP.


I've never met him, but I will miss him. May his story go on to inspire every one.