Nat Hentoff—columnist, music critic, jazz lover, civil libertarian, atheist, pro-life intellectual opposed to abortion and the death penalty—was prolific and productive up until the end of his life. He died last week of natural causes at the age of 91. He was so expansive in his interests and enthusiasms and commitments that there were aspects of his long career in journalism that even many fans and colleagues were unaware of, like the fact that he was a boxing writer early on. “He used to talk about it all the time,” a former colleague of Hen-toff’s 50-year tenure at the Village Voice remembers. “Nat was very proud of it.”

Nat Hentoff knew so much about so many things that he forgot more than most people will ever know. Really!