We've been through a rough patch lately here at The Bee. We lost a good friend and colleague in Donald Coleman, and then, the day before Donald's funeral, long-time editorial page editor Tom Kirwan died unexpectedly.
Tom was especially important in my career. He hired me to join The Bee's editorial page department in 1989, and taught me almost all I know about the craft of writing opinion pieces. My successes here I largely owe to Tom; my failures have come mostly on those occasions when I forgot what he taught me.
He was also a warm and kind man, thoroughly decent and gracious. He did much to shape the public landscape of this city and region for the better. He worked in the anonymity of the unsigned editorial, but still managed to gather hundreds of friends and admirers.
Some of them will be at Tom's services, which are tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Whitehurst, Sullivan, Burns & Blair Chapel, 1525 E Saginaw Way (just west of Blackstone and just north of Dakota).
And the Fresno County Board of Supervisors will have a moment of silence for Don and Tom at their Tuesday, Feb. 28 meeting.
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