Checking in on Bob Kotzbauer

After some prodding, we got this email from Bob Kotzbauer, who was the Beacon Journal's Columbus bureau chief and editorial writer before he left for the Philadelphia Bulletin and other adventures:

I was much impressed by the number of book authors we had in the BJ alumni group, but disappointed to note the absence of one I published in 2004 which had been mentioned in Alum News a year or so ago. It concerned a distant cousin of mine who got thrown out of college, run out of Germany, and died a hero(?) at Chancellorsville in 1863. The title, "ELIAS: Ersatz Prinz, Union Patriot" sums up his life.

It's out of print, of course, although a few months ago Amazon was listing two copies, one for $90, and one "new" for $100. I wrote Amazon, and got an email address for the seller, and offered to sell him two copies I had left for $50 each. (The initial price was $15, but I wound up giving away most of the printing to relatives, friends, and bookstores on the verge of bankruptcy.) Another cousin in California is now trying to sell the movie rights to "friends in the business."

Anyhow, since you asked, I'm still writing, for a newsletter -- an e-mail weekly, here at heaven's doorstep, with items of interest for folks coming and going. I give it away, a habit I learned early in my Journalism career, but it gives me consolation to think my words are enduring.

The only ex-Beacon acquaintances I have any contact with are Bruce MacIntyre (who was Maidenburg's "assistant" before going to Michigan and entering municipal politics), and Dave Hess, with whom I share lunch on rare occasions in the Press Club in Washington.

Reading Abe Zaidan's stuff in the Alum News reminds me of Columbus, more so than Akron.

Incidentally, is there still a BJ?

Bob Kotzbauer

For more details on Bob's life since the BJ, which includes living in Pennsylvania's Amish country, click on the headline.