Mourning Christopher Hitchens

A bright star burned out when Christopher Hitchens died from esophageal cancer. I hoped he would beat it even though I knew the odds were slim. There has been an outpouring of obituary type remembrances of him from authors, rabbis, and fellow intellectuals. He was remembered with considerable awe from fellow writers for his brilliant essays and articles. Some noted with incredulous envy how he could spend an evening that went late into the night carousing with his legendary capacity for large quantities of alcohol and cigarettes that would incapacitate the average human while holding forth on almost any subject with his customary deep knowledge and then go home and turn out an impeccably witty and brilliant article for Vanity Fair or some other publication. He was a fearsome debater with, as a famous author remarked, seemingly "total neurological recall of anything he ever read". His tongue was sharp and cut deeply, but without malice. We probably shall not see his like again anytime soon. Farewell, Hitch.