Dear friends of Liberty:
It is with a heavy heart that we share sad news and an unwelcome update: Liberty editor Stephen Cox has passed away.
Of course, to say Stephen was just our editor is to vastly understate his role in shaping this journal. He has been at its center from its very first day till now: planning it alongside our founder Bill Bradford, contributing words and expertise to every single issue, and filling the impossible chair left after Bill’s own untimely passing.
A full obituary is on the way, as well as info about Liberty’s future directions. In the meantime, if you have reminiscences to share about Stephen or reflections on his work—whether with Liberty or in any of the wide variety of intellectual conversations he contributed to—please get in touch via the comments here or at letters@libertyunbound.com.
In Liberty,
Andrew Ferguson
Managing Editor
I’m very sorry to hear this, I used to really enjoy his columns in Liberty Magazine.
I can’t believe it. I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. Steve was a mentor and dear friend. He was my professor at UC San Diego 35 years ago. We kept in touch and corresponded regularly. My last email from him was the morning of September 6, the day he died. I had emailed him a couple of weeks ago. He was always good about responding to me quickly. When he didn’t, I knew something was wrong. I just found out an hour ago. I will miss his wit and wisdom. I learned something new every time he wrote. He leaves a great body of work, but also a void that will be impossible to fill. Rest in peace, Professor. I’ll miss you.
There are certain writers – Mike Royko, Lewis Grizzard, P J O’Rourke come to mind – whom I never met but felt like I knew from reading what they had to say. Stephen was another. To me, his hilarious Word Watch pieces were unparalleled in their breadth of cultural knowledge and the wit with which he skewered the pretentious and the stupid who, more often than not, turned out to be the same person.
Our only contact was the more than two decades of emails we exchanged while he was editor of Liberty, and I a sometimes author. Often, he knew more about the topic than I did and could reject sentences, paragraphs and, at times, entire pieces with more kindness than I deserved.
All of which made me seem like a better writer than I am.
Something else about Stephen, something I could glimpse the outlines of but never the scope, was his immense ability to work. Not only did he edit Liberty, along with every piece I ever sent in, he edited every piece everybody else ever sent in while balancing a second career as professor of English at UC San Diego, writing numerous scholarly articles, and a third career as the author of several full-length books. Stephen was 76 when he died but, by my reckoning, put in 228 years of living. May the rest of us do as well.
I also met Stephen about 35 years ago at UC San Diego. I’ve been reading his Liberty columns and occasionally corresponding with him ever since. I will really miss both of those things. Word Watch was always fun to read and his obituaries showed such insight and appreciation. My condolences to his close friends and family. What a loss.
Drew,
Please include a photo of Stephen in your proposed obit. This is one instance that calls for it.
Robert H. Miller