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37 Judges J. 1 (1998)

handle is hein.journals/judgej37 and id is 1 raw text is: Jack Podell Reme bered By Francis J. Larkin he Editorial Board and staff of The Judges' Journal are pleased to dedicate this issue to our great friend, colleague, and mentor, Jack Podell, who died on December 13, 1997 at his home in Chicago, following a lingering illness. He was seventy years old. For some twenty years (1972-1992) as Director of the American Bar Association Press, Jack Podell embodied the highest standards of professionalism, skill, and craftsmanship in the editorial and publishing arts. For those decades the shadow of his editorial visage fell across most of the publications that emanated from the ABA, and each of them was the better for it. In 1972, becoming director of what was then the ABA Press, after a distinguished career at the highest levels of the publish- ing world of his native New York, Jack left an indelible mark on the ABA and its pub- lications. In this position, Jack created seven bar association magazines and nu- merous newsletters. Jack's technical skills and professionalism had a profound impact on each of these publications. Under his leadership, the ABA grew into one of the largest legal publishers in the country. But it was with The Judges' Journal that he en- joyed his closest and most fruitful relation- ship. Working closely, in later years with Fred Melcher, his talented friend and pro- tege, he brought the publication to new heights. Jack was fascinated by the law, the legal profession and, on most occasions, the judicial process, and it showed on every page of our publication. But it is not solely as an editor or pub- lisher that we remember him. For Jack Podell was not only a Renaissance Man but also a Universal Man. He filled both these roles not merely because he was in- formed, well-traveled, urbane, sophisti- cated, eloquent, and gifted; he was all of these. But his universality did not rest exclusively or even primarily upon these things. What defined his essence was the sim- plicity of fundamental human values. For he knew, far more than others, the things that really matter: what is permanent in the midst of change; the love of peace; the in- stinct of tolerance; the feeling of compas- sion; a passionate devotion to human rights; the urge to act for humankind writ large. He was always Mr. Goodheart. As an editor, Jack belonged to that all too small group of professionals who had an abiding feeling for the lovely echoes of words-both individual words and words in combination. He was an homme des let- tres in the European sense. Indeed, as an editor, one can argue that perhaps the pri- mary thing that appealed to Jack was a sense of style. Of course, he knew that substance was supreme, but so too was the careful orchestration of the tonalities of words; not merely for the purpose of ren- dering precise substantive import but also for releasing the innermost melodies in those words. To Jack, words were to be heard as well as understood, and part of their meaning was the silent song that rose from them even in print. His sense of style-limpid, unified, and coherent-was also present on those occa- sions when we would publish a theme issue-an issue devoted exclusively or pri- marily to a single subject. Jack never per- mitted these issues to be fleeting or episodic anthologies-mere random col- lections of articles on generic subjects. Rather, he sought to ensure that each of these issues was an example of literary creativity-unified whole and entire. He sought to mold each of the constituent arti- cles of the issue into a mosaic: sought spe- cial meanings in them and, most impor- tantly, always tried to make sure that the entire issue had the focus and unity of a mirror held up to the relevant subject, lay- ing bare not only its organic scaffolding, but also the interstices of each facet of the whole. The reach of Jack's interests, and the sweep of his intellect, were wondrous to behold-especially in the wide-ranging conversations (usually accompanied by a great dinner and a fine bottle of wine), that I was privileged to share with him, at least twice a year, for over two decades. Like all great conversationalists, nothing was for- eign to him. He knew everything about everything--events and peoples of all ages. His court was always in session. There was in him a simple, unaffected quiet; a wholly unvociferous acceptance, understanding, and empathy for a wide va- riety of men and causes. His tastes and in- terests were catholic in the most formal and universal sense of that word. But as a child of New York City, and a reverent but not always observant Jew, it was Jewish history that particularly at- tracted and fascinated him. Every period in Jewish history had a special zest and fla- vor for him-a peculiar combination of tsores, naches, and bewildered bedazzle- ment. Jack's knowledge of Jewish his- tory-political, sociological, literary, theo- logical, folkloric-was truly phenomenal. Moreover, that knowledge was never merely journalistic, nor even scholarly in the narrow sense. It was a fund of infonna- tion that his mind had distilled, bringing forth innumerable nuances. And so, perhaps, in closing it is fitting to invoke two Yiddish phrases-Uhayim' and Mensch-in attempting to summa- rize this richly variegated man. L'hayim, to life! was to Jack Podell the animating impulse of his very existence. He truly loved life and while sensitive to its infinite possibilities, was not unmindful of its cruel perversities and limitations. Having, at last attained the Psalmist's years, what he learned-for certain-is that life's greatest events outrace planning or expectation. He knew, instinctively, that there could be po- etry in the world, and in our lives-even miracles if only we would become open to them. He knew also that when life gets ready to open up, the only valid choice is to be ready to embrace it. Near the end, in a long conversation when we both realized that, likely, there would be not further talk between us, he said: Frank, never, ever pass up the opportunity to look over that approaching horizon and ask: 'What might be?' While Uhayim, to life, caught his credo, it was the more familiar Men- sch--connotirog the rare combiatior of goodness, grace, and gallantry of the human spirit-that both denoted and de- fined the man. For surely his greatest legacy was a human one. It is a legacy that lies-and will continue to lie-in the hearts of all those whose lives he touched; not only the colleagues he encouraged and guided, but in all of us who were the recip- ients of his shining smile, his kindness, and his concern. With the passing of Jack Podell, what we have lost is not his life. He lived that out, if not to the full, at least more fully than almost any other man. What we have lost is the man himself. And who can name the warmth and richness of that. If virtue and talents are the grounds of a nat- ural aristocracy (as Jefferson held), Jack Podell was-if I may use an old-fashioned word a true gentleman; one who con- stantly put his virtues and talents at the dis- posal of all he touched. We will not see his like again. But ... his memory will endure. Francis J. Larkin is Dean of the Southern New England School of Law and Chair of the Editorial Board of the The Judges'Journal.

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