Honoring R.W. Apple in Words and Food

Some graphs from Frank Bruni in the New York Times about the eulogy for Johnny Apple, the former Beacon Journal copy boy:

There were those at the Kennedy Center memorial on Tuesday for R. W. Apple Jr. who contended that he would have been touched most by what the current and former leaders of the free world had to say — or rather how many of them said it.

Of the five living American presidents, all but Gerald R. Ford, who is ill, sent letters of admiration to be read from the stage in honor of Mr. Apple, who died of complications of thoracic cancer on Oct. 4 at 71 after an extraordinary journalistic career at The New York Times.

There were those who contended that Mr. Apple would have been moved even more by the relatives and friends, including the journalists Charlie Rose and Morley Safer, who showed up in the kind of checked dress shirts for which Mr. Apple, no sartorial giant, was famous.

But many of Mr. Apple’s admirers, about 1,000 of whom turned out for a funny, sad and immensely caloric tribute, agreed that it was the Island Creek oysters that would have brought him the greatest delight.

Like his life, Mr. Apple’s memorial was a feast, with dishes donated by 20 of the Washington area’s most celebrated chefs. The oysters came from Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington.

Mr. O’Connell said he had initially planned to bring 300, then tripled the count. Mr. Apple, he acknowledged, could never get enough of the good things in life.

Read the full story in the New York Times

And Joe Klein of Time magazine took some notes at the memorial service for the late New York Times reporter, one of journalism's great note takers:

I brought a reporter's notebook to the memorial service for R.W. Apple of the New York Times this morning at the Kennedy Center, here in Washington. It was a primal act, a totemic offering — like my son bringing his glove to the ballpark when we go to see the Mets, I brought my notebook to celebrate Johnny, the most voracious of reporters. I even took a few notes.

Johnny was eulogized by eight friends, two stepchildren, four Presidents (Carter, Clinton and both Bushes sent written notes), 22 restaurateurs, 20 wineries and a piano player. The over-stuffedness of it all was, of course, appropriate — although I must say that while the food provided by the grieving restaurateurs was delicious (especially the oysters), it was on the skimpy side. Apple would have wanted more. He was more gourmand than gourmet, as a journalist as well as an eater, and his antic enthusiasms provided plenty of grist for the eulogists.

See all of Klein’s notes