I’ve been contributing to an essay on – of all things – semi-colons and whether Hunter Thompson liked or disliked them. As any reader of Hell’s Angels or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas can quickly verify, he had nothing against them – at least then. He used them in key sentences, occasionally one after the other in the same sentence. Mostly, though, just sprinkled to fit his pace.

As I was working on this contribution to a group piece, the topic turned to a Random House editor Joe Fox, whom I copy edited for whenever he had novels (during the time I was at Random House). And this and other tributes came up – this one from the New York Times:

Mr. Fox, a tall man with a bearlike shamble, was known as a gentlemanly raconteur and passionate backgammon player. He became a well-loved figure at Random House, where he spent 35 years editing some of the house’s star writers, among them Truman Capote, Fran Lebowitz, John Irving, Philip Roth, Ralph Ellison, Anthony Lewis, Peter Matthiessen, Mark Salzman and Martin Cruz Smith. “He was an absolutely assiduous line editor,” said Mr. Smith, who worked on five books with Mr. Fox. “He would simply take my sentences and push in an arm here and pull a knee over here. And when the sentences stood up, they stood up straighter. He took such infinite care over every word. He tried to get the rhythm of each individual writer, like he was learning a musical score.”

Joe was unforgettable, vivid in presence even today. Martin Cruz Smith is a mystery writer. Actually, I’ll have to check him out. Glad to be reminded of Joe. He was the kind of person who just had presence. There’s a piece on him here, from the New Yorker.