Just Deserts: Charles Levendosky

Remembering a Favorite Newspaper Columnist and Editor

I lost one of my best editors 17 years ago. Charles Levendosky made every effort to thrive in spite of a cancer diagnosis. Charles was both realistic and optimistic. With the support of his newspaper, the Casper Star-Tribune, his outstanding editorial team and, above all, his wife Dale, he gave due credit to colleagues, editors and the newspaper company for accommodating his working from home, which Charles did until he died in the late winter of 2004. Charles was 67.

As the columnist he hired, I wrote commentary for Wyoming’s Casper Star-Tribune from the 1990s into the new century, so I was in a position to observe, engage and debate Charles. While editing my articles about various issues, he countered my arguments. Charles urged me to apply for a Nieman writing fellowship at Harvard, which I did (to no avail) and he’s one of the few editors to succeed in persuading me to provide a headshot for my columns. Best of all, Charles read and edited my writing, which we often discussed over the phone. I miss those conversations.

Born the son of a military father in the Bronx on the fourth of July, he moved often, studying math and physics, writing and publishing poetry, teaching writing and becoming Wyoming’s poet laureate in 1988. Charles had lived in Kyoto, Japan, which made an impact on him. He’d also studied at the University of Oklahoma, received a master's degree in education from New York University (NYU) and taught high school math and science in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He later taught English at NYU, was poet-in-residence at Georgia Southern College and he gave poetry readings to everyone from coal miners to students enrolled at Harvard. His memorial was held at an art museum. Besides being a husband, twice, Charles was a stepdad and a father.

We bonded over rights. Charles was, as I wrote when he died, honest, honorable and undaunted. Though we passionately, sometimes heatedly, debated, especially after the Islamic terrorist attack of 2001, we earned one another’s mutual respect. It turned out that he was right about the Patriot Act, which he relentlessly warned me was an ominous violation of individual rights. Charles was so passionate about rights that he created a First Amendment educational archive for the Star-Tribune, named the First Amendment CyberTribune (FACT), which unfortunately is no longer active.

It occurs to me that Charles would probably chuckle at that small vindication in his gruff way and mutter that it doesn’t surprise him. I’m confident that Charles would agree that defending free speech, a theme in the novel I’m writing, has never been more urgently necessary. The small Casper, Wyoming newspaper’s Editorial Page Editor Charles Levendosky was awarded by the Playboy Foundation for his First Amendment work, which was also recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Library Association, the American Bar Association and the Freedom to Read Foundation in Chicago, a designated beneficiary when he died. Charles won both the Baltimore Sun's H.L. Mencken Award and First Amendment Award. He hired, mentored and encouraged me. Charles showed me that practicing the art of journalism means being willing to be the lone voice of reason. He criticized me—and he never stopped exercising his rights, especially the right to think, speak and live free. As editor Dan Neal said when Charles died: “He showed everyone at the end...that you can decide to stand up to whatever is challenging you and still do your best work.” I can attest to this—he certainly did—and I am his beneficiary. So, dear reader, are you.