Alan Bock, R.I.P.

Alan Bock, contributing editor of this journal, died on May 18 at his home in Lake Elsinore, California, after a heroic fight against cancer. He was 67.

A fine account of his life has been written by Greg Hardesty, his colleague at the Orange County Register, where Alan worked for over 30 years as an editorial writer and columnist. A picture comes with Hardesty's article, and I think it says something about why so many people liked Alan. We at Liberty remember him as an engaging, jovial man — good company — and a writer whose contributions we always looked forward to getting.

If you'd like a sample of Alan's work, pull up our July 1999 issue in the Liberty Archive. On page 23, you'll find Alan's article, "Gateway to Oppression." Our Contents page for that issue characterizes the article in this way: "Alan Bock examines the latest scientific study of marijuana, and wonders: if marijuana kills, why hasn't anyone ever died of it?" Some of Alan's wit comes through in that blurb, but when you read the article, you'll see many other things about him: his steel-trap logic, his mastery of fact, his sympathy for the oppressed, his noble indignation against oppression. By the time he finishes, he's made the definitive analysis of his subject — and the piece is only about 800 words long.

One of the most lovable figures in the American folk imagination is the iconoclastic newspaperman — learned yet colloquial, genial yet incorruptibly just, a man who never gives up on truth and liberty. Alan demonstrated that this figure is not merely a product of the imagination. He was that figure. Everyone who knew him is saddened by his passing; everyone who learned from him remains inspired by his ideals.