David R. Adler
There is one less champion of democratic thought in the world today. Norman Geras has passed. A friend and role model, Norm visited NYC in May 2012 and I had the great pleasure of spending an afternoon with him. We visited the 9/11 Memorial together, a powerful experience for us both. We shared a snack across from Zuccotti Park, boarded an insanely crowded uptown train and soon parted ways, for the last time. (I’m linking to his post about the Memorial visit.) Norm graciously featured me twice on his widely read Normblog, and those opportunities meant the world to me. He was wry (in that British way), decent, fiercely intelligent and principled, an unshakable ally and a passionate fan of jazz. I can’t yet bear the thought of his loss and I’ll be posting links [on his Facebook page — Ed.] to more tributes in the days to come.