I have a postcard hanging on the bulletin board above my desk from James Ward, ABC 7’s sartorially original restaurant reporter. Dated October 2005, it declared itself “an unabashed fan letter.” Do you know how rare it is, even was back then, to get a piece of personal handwritten mail written in grammatically correct English? One that isn’t filled with threats? What a nice guy. Anyway I never met him in person, but I wrote him back, reciprocating and thanking him, and couple a months later he retired from his 20-year gig at the station (to be replaced by the Hound).
Today ABC 7’s reporting that he passed on yesterday. They’ve put up a montage of some of his old clips. It’s both a hoot and pretty sweet at the same time.