Sidney Goldberg, R.I.P.

Sidney Goldberg has died.

The world was made brighter and braver by all the good he did, and he lives on in the millions of hearts and minds he touched.

I remember my wife Ellen and I dining with Sid and Lucianne -- have 25 years really sped by since then? -- and getting his sage guidance for my appearance the next day on David Letterman's national TV show. It was one of many times his advice helped shape my life, as it did for the lives of so many others.

Sid was a Senior Vice President of United Feature Syndicate/United Media, the home of Peanuts, Garfield, Dilbert and other features. He also oversaw its Independent News Alliance service, for which I'd done investigative reporting. At that dinner long ago we were also celebrating the start of what became 15 years for me as a staff writer and Roving Editor at Reader's Digest, taking me away from newspaper work for INA.

Sid opened the door for fresh ideas and for many young writers in a time and place of left-liberal mental stagnation and conformity. He was one of those pipers at the gates of dawn, ushering in what soon was recognized as morning again in America.

Sid's brilliant partner and spouse Lucianne -- a former Washington intern -- and I would later host national talk shows at the same radio network, and she would found one of the Internet's most important idea exchanges, Lucianne.com. Their son Jonah has also brought new verve and insights to the media with frequent appearances on CNN, his Chicago Tribune Syndicate column and his writing as an editor of National Review.

I last chatted with Sid at a Restoration Weekend, where right-minded people gather under the auspices of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture to share ideas. Sid loved sharing ideas and energy, although usually as one of those whose enormous influence operated behind the scenes with little public recognition. In retirement Sid became more visible, writing boldly and courageously at Tech Central Station.

Thank you, Sid, for all the light you spread in this world. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. And to Lucianne, Jonah and Joshua, you are in Ellen's and my prayers, and in the prayers of the rest of your many friends at CSPC, FrontPageMagazine.com, DiscoverTheNetworks.org, and here at Moonbat Central.