Farewell to Irv Kupcinet

Nov. 11, 2003
FAREWELL TO IRV KUPCINET

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today the city of Chicago, IL, is marking the passing of a legend. Just yesterday, Chicago, and the rest of the Nation as well, lost a giant-the famous Chicago Sun Times columnist Irv Kupcinet who died at age 91.

In the city of Chicago, there are few landmarks anyone thinks of, but one of the great landmarks was Irv Kupcinet. He was a columnist not only known across Chicago but across the Nation.

A native Chicagoan, Kup, as he was known to millions, said that even as a child he knew someday he would be in the newspaper business. But it wasn't until a shoulder injury ended his first National Football League season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1935 that he turned to journalism, becoming a sports writer for the now defunct Chicago Times.

In 1948 that paper merged with a cross-town rival to create the Sun-Times, the newspaper which Kup called home for the remaining 55 years of his life. And as any reader of his columns can attest, right up until the end, Irv Kupcinet still wrote with passion and wit about the subjects on which he built his career-famous people and his native Chicago.

Over the years, Kup's column was distributed to more than 100 newspapers around the world and its author showered with innumerable awards. In 1982, he was elected to Chicago's Journalism Hall of Fame. The city of Chicago renamed the Wabash Avenue bridge over the Chicago River in his honor in 1986.

In 1959, Kup became the host for the syndicated television show, "At Random," where he interviewed personalities ranging from Nobel Prize winners and politicians to starlets and oddballs. Kupcinet estimated he interviewed about 6,500 guests on the show, which aired every Saturday night for 27 years, including former Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and other newsmakers such as Lenny Bruce, Senator Robert Kennedy, Yul Brynner and Malcolm X. The show won a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting and more than a dozen Emmys.

His other accomplishments were enough to fill several careers. He continued his relationship with football by officiating for the NFL. He broadcast Chicago Bears football games on radio, with Jack Brickhouse, for 24 years. He appeared in two movies by Otto Preminger, "Advise and Consent" and "Anatomy of a Murder."

But it was his power as a writer and his integrity as a person that set Irv Kupcinet apart. Kup did not dish the dirt that other celebrity columnists thrived on. Instead, he often took on subjects not typically covered by his counterparts; topics such as race relations and veterans' issues. He was also a tireless worker for charities-raising funds and lending his name to a host of charitable causes.

In 1939, Kup married the love of his life, a feisty redheaded Northwestern University student named Esther "Essee" Solomon. The couple had two children, Jerry and Karyn, who was known as "Cookie." Cookie was an aspiring actress and moved to Hollywood, where she died at the age of 22. Her murder was never solved, and Kup grieved the loss of his daughter for the rest of his life. His beloved Essee died just two years ago in 2001.

Today we woke up to a world without Irv Kupcinet, and we are all somewhat poorer by that loss. But a little part of Kup will always be with us. And his example is one worth noting.

If an aspiring columnist were to ask my advise on reaching the highest levels of that profession, I would offer the following advice: study the life of Irv Kupcinet. Try to capture his passion, his courage, his style. And never forget those things that came across in every column he wrote-a love of story, a love of language, and a genuine love of people.

Thank you Kup. We will miss you.

I close by saying a few months ago, Kup, who was then in a wheelchair, asked me if I would join him at his legendary luncheon he had every Saturday at the Drake Hotel. I went to that luncheon. There were about 12 gathered there-friends of Kup for a lifetime. I was the youngest at the table by at least 20 years.

I listened as they regaled me with stories of America and Chicago, of sports, of horse racing, entertainment-everything that had made Kup's life. It was a great lunch, and I will never forget it.

America is never going to forget Irv Kupcinet. The real question we now face in Chicago is whether we can get up in the morning and face a day without Kup's column. By standing fast to his memory, standing fast to his values, I think we will be able to weather this storm and still maintain a warm spot in our heart for the late Irv Kupcinet.

I yield the floor.