Newspaper Columnist And Author Jimmy Breslin Dies At 88

Mark Moore at the New York Post reports that legendary New York newspaper columnist and author Jimmy Breslin has died.

Jimmy Breslin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist who chronicled life in New York City for more than five decades and became known as the champion of the common man, died Sunday. He was 88.

Breslin, who may be best-remembered for interviewing John F. Kennedy’s gravedigger, passed away at his Manhattan home after suffering from a number of “problems stemming from pneumonia,” his wife, Ronnie Eldridge, said.

“He had a great life … he died just like that,” Eldridge, 86, a former city councilwoman, told The Post, snapping her fingers for emphasis.

“I’m going to miss him terribly.”

The Queens-born Breslin — who authored the books “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” about the hapless 1962 Mets, and “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” about the Mafia — was known for his work on several New York daily newspapers: including Newsday, the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Post.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2017/03/19/pulitzer-prize-winning-journalist-jimmy-breslin-dies-at-86/

Note: Growing up I wanted to be a newspaper columnist and write crime fiction (which I've accomplished to some degree). Although I didn’t subscribe to Jimmy Breslin's politics and worldview, I used to read and enjoy his columns. I liked the humor and the sidelong observations. I also liked his novels, especially his organized crime comedies, The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight and I Don’t Want to Go To Jail. He will be missed.