An "Irish Wake"

I went to a gathering of Newsday colleagues and friends today, to celebrate the life of a great managing editor.  He died back in January - this is the first paragraph of his obituary:  "In an often hard-charging newsroom world, Newsday managing editor Robert F. Brandt excelled with brilliant editing, unflappable calm, even when catastrophic events erupted around the world, while always taking care of his colleagues."  His funeral was in Maryland, and so some colleagues though we should have an "Irish Wake" and gather at a local bar and celebrate his life and his work.  It was a wonderful day with tributes delivered by colleagues.  For me, it was a powerful reminder of what it meant to work for a great newspaper for so many years.