Jeff McCourt dead at 51

Jeff McCourt, founder of the Windy City Times, died last month at 51. Jeff was the first person to take a chance on me, a young writer, eventually giving me the column I still write.

Jeff was difficult, needy, an asshole, a bastard. He would storm through our windowless office sucking on cigarettes and booming out curses or praises, depending on his mood. I am grateful for his early support---and I wish I could be sorry  about his death.  When I was hired, he was already deep in decline, from drugs, from AIDS, from his pinwheeling narcissism. But it' thanks to him that the WCT---and eventually the Chicago Free Press--became the papers they did.

He was interesting. He was a personality. He will be remembered---not always well, but hey, remembered. And that's a hell of a lot more than most other people get.