John Berthoud, We’ll Miss You
John Berthoud walked down quite a few roads in his many years. A few times I had the pleasure of tagging along for small parts of his journey, and for that I am forever grateful.
Weeks ago, John unexpectedly died in his sleep of heart failure. I guess it’s always unexpected. But he was only 45. Younger than me, in fact.
Most folks who’ve heard his name knew John as the President of the nation’s largest taxpayers group, the National Taxpayers Union. Before NTU, Berthoud ran the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, and worked with the American Legislative Exchange Council before that.
John was brilliant guy, and very well-educated, having earned an undergraduate degree from Georgetown, a masters from Columbia and a PhD from Yale. The Freedom Movement will miss his intellect and his leadership.
Of course, when things like this happen, we can’t help but confront our own mortality. And we think about what we hope to accomplish before we go, how we hope to be remembered.
I like the way that John Berthoud lived.
As smart as he was, he was also one heckuva nice guy. As Frances Smith of Consumer Alert told the Washington Times, “He was brilliant and yet completely unpretentious.”
“John was the happy warrior of fiscal conservatism,” said John Berlau, with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “John will be sorely missed, but his influence will be long felt.”
That’s because not only was John Berthoud a great man, he also cared enough to make each of us better, too.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
