Dave Nalle

It is with great sorrow that we acknowledge the passing of David Nalle, a longtime friend and colleague from Blogcritics and Facebook.

I’ve known Dave since the 2000s when Blogcritics accepted me as a prospective contributor.  He was the editor of the Politics section at the time, at which post he remained until the very end, while BC still featured politics front and center.

Dave was a conscientious editor, and along with many of his other colleagues, Nils Florman and Gordon Miller, to name but a few, he had helped me hone my writing skills to have become a far more proficient writer, well beyond my expectations.  And since most of my submissions concerned the subject matter of politics, it is mostly to him that I owe my gratitude.  At times, our views were diametrically opposite, but not once had he corrected me regarding content.  It was always a matter of style and clarity of expression for Dave.

Ever since I conceived of constructing a website that would approximate the intent and spirit of the Blogcritics of old, it was mainly Dave Nalle and others like him who had served as an inspiration.  Absent the privilege of knowing you, of our butting of heads more often than not, this project would have been a nonstarter.

Fortunately, most of you have offered a word of encouragement, and Dave Nalle was one of the first.   He had graciously accepted the prospective position of Editor of Politics – a position he was uniquely qualified for – in the would-be startup. He had gone further in recommending Maggie Perkins as would-be editor of Food & Fashion, for which I was immensely grateful as well.  The rest is history.

Sadly, we won’t reap the benefits of Dave Nalle’s careful guidance and wisdom, but his spirit will always remain.

I propose that we name Dave Editor of Politics In Perpetuity.