By IJP Co-Founder, Raymond M. Brown
Whitney Ellsworth was a friend and I shall miss him.
When I joined the Board of Human Rights First (HRF) in the 90′s, he was quick to embrace me and “school” me on the challenges facing human rights organizations. Over the years when HRF tackled seemingly intractable problems, his was the oft heeded gravely voice of wisdom and historical memory urging us to face squarely and creatively issues we would like to avoid. In the last several years, he guided Wanda and me as we founded IJP, emailing us “flights” of material and meeting us at the Century Club in NYC to offer pearls on governance, finance and strategy.When I last saw him earlier this month, days before his death, he told me with a cheerful demeanor that he was in the grip of a “silent killer” (Pancreatic Cancer). He added that he was not depressed and that all kinds of anger and frustration had been lifted from his shoulders. In particular he was free of annoyance with all those folks who had refused to follow his advice over the years. I asked jokingly if that included Wanda and myself at IJP. He just laughed, hugged me and said he loved me. A week later he was gone.
Whitney Ellsworth was a friend and I shall miss him.
Related Link: New York Times, A. Whitney Ellsworth, First Publisher of New York Review, Dies at 75
Photo Credit: New York Times, June 20, 2011
