Thank you Larry DuPraz

Hearing that Larry DuPraz recently passed away hit me with a great sense of sadness. He was a large part of my life with The Daily Princetonian. I would have loved to have had a last visit, not having seen him for two decades, but somehow the chance didn't materialize. I did, however, speak with him on the phone in the course of writing an acknowledgement for my book, "Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion," in 2002. Here's what I wrote: "My indebtedness goes back a long way ... I learned about the impact of layout and typography on consciousness while working on the student newspaper at Princeton University. Larry DuPraz initiated countless generations of Princeton undergraduates to the intricacies of the journalistic art, and I was lucky to be one of those to benefit, in the late 1950s, from his enthusiasm."

It was from Larry that I learned about "widows" and "orphans," the impact of various typefaces, the effect different pictures or headline words might have on adjacent and unrelated stories and many other journalistic basics. But Larry was not just a technician. He was also interested in content, and if he liked a letter or article he would give it a lot of encouragement.

You could also always count on Larry being emotionally engaged on current issues. It was a pleasure to argue, joust and debate topics of the day with him. The business manager discouraged talk because it led to later papers and overtime, but that was part of the huge fun in working for the 'Prince.' Larry was never short of opinions and was happy to express them within the limits of circumspection and tact — and perhaps even beyond.

For instance, both of us shared the Roman Catholic faith, and we often discussed controversies raised by Hugh Halton O.P., M.A., D.Phil (Oxon) (as he signed himself in full page paid advertisements in the 'Prince'), a Dominican priest, Chaplain to the Catholic Students and Director of the Aquinas Foundation from 1952 to 1957 or 1958. During that time, Father Halton accused the University of losing the spirit of dedication to truth as handed down in the Judeo-Christian tradition, being subverted by liberalism (a familiar enough argument from the Christian right today) and adversely affecting the faith of the young men who came to study at Princeton. Unfortunately, he also descended to personal attacks on the intellectual integrity of some faculty members, in addition to posing some tough philosophical questions about the mission of the University. The 'Prince' gave an enormous amount of space to these controversies, and I probably was led into philosophy from physics by getting involved in them, on the side of Father Halton.

Larry was not very sympathetic to Father Halton's aggressive attacks on the University, but he also disapproved of some of the bigoted responses to the priest — which were not in short supply — and we had many discussions pertaining to what today would be called left wing and right wing Catholicism. In those pre-Vatican II days, the laity were less prominent in church organization and thinking.

Larry could and would vent his spleen about his likes and dislikes, which had an occasional tinge of Archie Bunker, but I saw him fundamentally as a peacemaker rather than a crusader. He was one of those basically decent human beings whose intuitive ethical sense sometimes does more to set one's moral compass aright than many reams of subtle dialectical analysis.

I think that Larry may have had a fairly boring job putting out the regular Princeton township newspaper, but the kid in him took a vicarious thrill in being part of the student newspaper, with its regular challenges to authority (at least in my day). In fact, the University powers of my day sponsored a series of seminars for 'Prince' staff on responsible journalism.

Larry took great pride in the recognition afforded by his former apprentices — for example, at a 'Prince' banquet held in his honor in New York — but he also welcomed any contact I made with him, by letter or telephone. We had a French connection: I was from Canada, and he had stories about Normandy and rotting horse carcasses.

At a Princeton reunion in the 1980s, he met my wife and daughter, and I was delighted at the way he remembered so much of the old days, even while we discussed new computer technology and desktop publishing. Larry leaving this earth and the Princeton corner of it leaves a great void. The best one can do is to keep alive his journalistic spirit and flair and hope that it rekindles itself in this and future generations. Randal Marlin '59 was editorial chairman of the 82nd managing board of The Daily Princetonian. He is now a professor at Carleton University and may be reached at marlin@ncf.ca.