Tribute to a Friend, a Mentor, a Father
Thursday June 9, 2016 | Filed under:
I am mourning the passing of Everett Groseclose, who was more like a father to me than my own. I met Ev 33 years ago when I was working as an intern at Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
He was the “big boss,” one of the first and best writers of the off-beat stories that appear on the front page of the Journal, and I spoke with him only in passing that summer. The next winter, I answered a blind ad – to a PO box – and my resume ended up on his desk.
He invited me back to New York for an interview, and he later called long-distance to hire me for my first full-time job: I took calls all day from Journal reporters, who dictated their stories as I typed as fast as I could and tried to ask questions and edit their stories along the way.
Ev was a constant coach, adviser and mentor. After seven years working for him, Ev helped me move from editorial to the business side, a foreign place and one usually distrusted by editors. But Ev told me I could do it, and he believed in me.
On the 25th anniversary of my first day working for him (June 4, 1984), I flew to his home in Santa Fe and presented him with an engraved Rolex watch: “Thank you for believing. Rgds, TA.” (Ev’s sign-off was always “Rgds, EG,” the origin of my use of TA.)
He gave me advice whenever I asked, most recently about two months ago when he also shared that his cancer had returned. I loved Ev Groseclose and thank him for everything he allowed me to do for myself simply because he believed in me. My prayers are with his daughters, Kirsten Rose and Megan, and all his family and friends.