Bill Moyers 1934 - 2025

Bill Moyers died yesterday.  I first met him in 1967 when he became the Publisher of Newsday.  I was coming out of the building and he was walking up to the front door.  Everyone knew he was coming of course.  I just thought I would say "Hi" as we passed each other.  Instead he stopped and put out his hand and said "Hi I'm Bill Moyers."  He was a gentleman and I was so touched by that, that he would introduce himself to me.  He left Newsday in 1970, just before the sale of the paper to the Los Angeles Times.  He continued to live in Garden City and I had occasion to photograph him for a story in Newsday some years later, after he started working at PBS. This is my portrait of him at the time and when he saw it published he asked if he could buy a number of prints to use as is official portrait, which Newsday arranged.  At some point I asked him if he would sign a print for me and he said ""Of course" and I sent this print to him.  When it came back to me after a while, it was stained with coffee down in the corner!  I had to laugh, because this is something I might have done!  He inscription on the print says: "To Ken - who has the eye of an artist and sees the best in a lot of us - from his friend Bill Moyers."  Along with it was this hand written note, below...  wow...