Phil Krone, 1941-2010

One of the common observations I receive about Marathon Pundit is that readers usually don't leave comments. I'm not entirely sure why that is, perhaps that scary picture of me frightens people.

But I have readers--and sadly there is one less now. Phil Krone, a liberal Democrat of the old school--remember, liberal originally meant "open-minded" and "generous," died of cancer at his home on the West Side of Chicago last week.

Krone told me a few times that he liked how I wrote things, but not necessarily what I wrote. Pat Hickey knew Krone better than I did, he called him a "gentleman liberal patriot." Krone would tell me what he thought by e-mail. He even called me on the telephone a couple of times to about a Marathon Pundit entry. There are many ways express opinions on a blog post.

Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Mike Royko said of Krone, he was "your classic political insider, comfortable with the corporate types and on cordial terms with the Daley family and most other mainline Chicago politicians."

He and his wife bought run-down Jackson Boulevard homes in the 1970s when the entire West Side seemed to face two destinies: desolation or disarray. Much of that part of Chicago is blighted, but not Krone's pocket.

I finally got to meet Krone in 2008 at a conservative bloggers' conference. He was the only liberal--excuse me, classic liberal, there. He had guts, he had charm, and he was damn smart. Which is probably why he was admitted into that right wing summit.

Rest in peace.

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