Thank you for Alvin A. Reid’s well-written remembrance of Gerald Boyd, one of the finest newsmen ever to hail from these parts.
Almost exactly 30 years ago, I met Mr. Boyd for just 20 minutes. He forever changed my life. He was a young reporter for the Post-Dispatch who had come to University City High School for a career day. I was a high school senior with no particular career in mind. He spoke with passion about the things a journalist could get done, about how he had written a story that had secured an elusive Social Security check for an old woman from North St. Louis.
I was enthralled with the power of journalism to make a difference and have spent the past three decades in newsrooms. Aside from my family, I can’t imagine anyone who has had such a profound impact on my life and, as you note, the life of so many others.
Rick Jackoway
Webster Groves