More on Joe Persico in the Times Union

Two community treasures lost: An appreciation

Paul Grondahl, Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Joe was an acclaimed historian and the author of 12 books. You may have seen him as a "talking head" expert in History Channel documentaries or as a guest on "Face the Nation" and "Morning Joe." His books had reached the best-seller list and "Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial" was made into a TV movie. The Gloversville native was among a troika of the region's most famous authors alongside Albany natives Andy Rooney and Bill Kennedy.

Yet he was always willing to write a blurb, celebrate literary successes of friends and offer pragmatic advice to writers like myself. He called me "young fella" even after I turned 55 this summer. He said there were no shortcuts to success. He had a small sign in a book-lined study at his Guilderland apartment that was a kind of mantra: "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

He worked hard to the end.

More:  http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Two-community-treasures-lost-An-appreciation-5729437.php

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Andy Rooney Named a "Giant of Broadcasting"

Son of Albany and summer resident of Rensselaerville Andy Rooney (1919-2011) has been named a "Giant of Broadcasting" by the Library of American Broadcasting.

From the official announcement:  "No one should be asked to sum up ANDY ROONEY in a paragraph. He was foremost a writer, and at least a marginal iconoclast, and became most famous for his generally irreverent closings on 60 Minutes on CBS (“A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney”) featuring his observations on daily life and the passing parade...."   More.

For Paul Grondahl's 2001 Times Union interview of Rooney at his summer house in Rensselaerville, click here.

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Rensselaerville Festival of Writers, July 26-29

The 2012 Rensselaerville Festival of Writers will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Galway Kinnell, Writers Institute friend and retiring New York State Legislator Jack McEneny, UAlbany English professor Tomas Urayoan Noel, Lizz Winstead who co-created the Daily Show with John Stewart, and many others.

No doubt there will also be spontaneous tributes to Rensselaerville's best-loved resident, the late Andy Rooney, who passed away last November.

Other attractions include hiking in the Huyck preserve and the village itself.

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A Few More Minutes with Andy Rooney

Friends of our late friend Andy Rooney, cultural critic, political commentator and Albany native son, gathered yesterday at Lincoln Center to talk about the man and his legacy.

"Friends and colleagues from across the TV spectrum joined Andy Rooney's four children this morning at Rose Hall, bidding farewell to the CBS News essayist, who died November 4 following complications from minor surgery...." More.

(Memorial service program pictured right).

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Andy Rooney, Charcoaled Peaches and Potato Ice Cream

Bill Kennedy introducing Andy Rooney at the Writers Institute in 1995:

On page 14 of his new book, My War, Andy Rooney writes this sentence. “One of my dominating characteristics has always been that I’m not strange.” Now that’s a lie. Andy Rooney is as strange as charcoaled peaches or potato ice cream, which he invented. Oh sure, he looks normal, and you can understand every word he says and he’s a Giants fan. When I first met him I never suspected he was strange. We were at a dinner party in the penthouse of the Wellington Hotel, looking out at the South Mall, which was under construction, and we began swapping memories of Albany and the newsmen we knew and we realized we could carry on with these stories for years to come, and so we have. We’ve become friends. I have several strange friends. More.

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Andy Rooney (1919-2011)

Bill Kennedy reminisces about his friend Andy Rooney, a son of the Capital Region, in an article by Paul Grondahl in the TU.

"It was easy to see how much his work meant to him," said novelist William Kennedy. "When the work was taken away, the bottom dropped out of his life and he was obviously distraught by it. I think it broke his heart." More.

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