Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Bill Walsh, 1961-2017


Bill Walsh, a Washington Post copy editor who wrote three irreverent books about his craft, noting evolutions and devolutions of language, the indispensability of hyphens and his hostility toward semicolons, and distinctions - for the sake of clarity - between Playboy Playmates and Playboy Bunnies, died March 15 at a hospice center in Arlington, Va. He was 55.

Read the full Washington Post obituary


ACES is establishing a Bill Walsh Scholarship to support students interested in a career in news editing.

Donate to the ACES Bill Walsh Scholarship


(Note from the Mrs.: Thank you to all who have sent messages of condolences. It has been heartbreaking to lose Bill, but the genuine outpouring to his death has been a source of tremendous comfort.)


3 comments:

Jim Grey said...

Oh dear, I'm so very sorry. I've read Bill's blog for years. I'll miss his voice.

Mike Taylor said...

I'm truly sad to hear this. Bill's Lapsing into a Comma was perhaps my favourite book about language: precise, informative and very funny. My best wishes to all the people he left behind. He made the world a more literate and more enjoyable place.

dave someone said...

I am an English translator and copy-editor stuck (not really) in the middle of Europe and I have drawn on Bill Walsh's wit and wisdom for many things. It makes me terribly sad to know he has died so young. He gave us so much common sense and humour. And I hope this blog will stay up in his memory, because I have used it so much to make important points to people. If nothing else it should be part of his legacy.