Paul Kurtz: Photo from Buffalo News

The most important thing about Paul Kurtz, my mentor at Prometheus Books and Free Inquiry in the late 1980s and early ’90s, was that he gave his energy to people, who could then go out and create / write / organize in ways they would not have been able to otherwise. It was a wonderful gift he gave to me and others. I know many people owe their careers in academia, publishing, and activism to him. I do. I salute you, Paul, and thank you. I know you faced death bravely and with that curiosity you brought to every facet of human experience. (Obits: The Buffalo News, NYTimes, and Free Inquiry.)

Postscript [October 30]: “Jonathan Kurtz said his father was not afraid of death and spent a ‘joyful’ final day telling jokes and discussing his favorite football team. ‘His true religion,’ his son said, ‘was the NFL and the Buffalo Bills.'”