Dave Gergen died July 10, of this year, 2025, at age 84 in New England, of dementia. Your humble servant was a speechwriter on the White House speechwriting staff under his supervision from 1973 to 1974. Dave was a practical joker and he loved mockery. But he was a simply great boss. He was kind and thoughtful and full of praise of yours truly. He was smart and well read and a devoted fan of our boss, Richard M. Nixon. In a time of extreme stress as Mr. Nixon was being lynched by the national media, he kept his cool. Whatever his inner feelings were, he did not take them out on us speechwriters or anyone else.

I had the extraordinary good fortune of working right next door to two of the smartest men I have ever known, John R. Coyne Jr. and Aram Bakshian, both authentic geniuses. They loved Dave as much as I did, and that is high praise indeed.

He was a jokester, and one of his best “jokes” was when I was home sick in bed, he sent me a message (no internet in those days) requiring that I call him at once. I did, and he demanded that I come across town in my pitiful little Subaru. I told him I was too sick to come in. Dave said I had to come in or else the Grand Jury would send cops to bring me in.

Naturally, I came in and reported to Dave. With a hearty laugh, he told me he had forgotten what he called me about and there was no Watergate Grand Jury in my future. I laughed too.

Dave went on to big things after Richard Nixon left. I only ran into him once or twice. He was always happy to see me or so he said. Now, it has been 51 years since he was my boss and I have been in some pretty good jobs since then. But I have never had a kinder boss or a boss with a better sense of humor.

I am sad that he is gone from this Earth. We who worked with him are sad that we never had a better leader, and I am sure we’ll never have another like him on this earth. God bless you, Dave, wherever you are.