The Blog

It is sad to hear that Jeff has died, though not surprising. I saw him several times over the past few years; despite his ill health, he still showed flashes of the insight and wit that made him a gay publishing pioneer. One note for the historical record—Jeff did close the doors at Windy City Times. I know, because I was working there at the time. The last issue he published was the first issue of July 1999, and it didn't get distributed, except for one bundle of papers. Jeff subsequently was contacted by Outlines publisher Tracy Baim and others about buying the assets of WCT. He eventually sold them to Baim, and in September 1999, some two and a half months after WCT ceased publication, she dropped the Outlines name from her newspaper and began publishing under the Windy City Times name.

ooops... sorry—the date of Windy City Time's last issue under Jeff was July 2000, with the first issue under Tracy Baim coming out in September 2000.

Jeff, was a wonderful friend to me. We traveled P'Town together and had many dinners at his wonderful apartment in Chicago. Jeff loved to cook, and it showed. He had delightful parties with a very broad spectrum of friends. In 1989, Jeff called me and said he had a Birthday present for me and that he would bring it to my store that afternoon. He never showed up, much to my chagrin, (it wasn't the present I wanted, I wanted to see him) I did remind him the following year that he never showed, he wasn't aware of this. He deeply apologized, I accepted his apology and we never saw each other again, he disappeared. I missed him so much because he was like a brother to me. Memories are wonderful, they enable you to keep someone in such a deep part of your heart, Jeff has that part of my heart, I will love him forever. I can still see and feel his smile... Jan

Please allow me to amplify on my colleague Michael Miner's fine obituary of Jeff McCourt. Jeff's first foray into the world of GLBT publishing began in 1984, when he started dating GayLife sales manager Bob Bearden. I was editor of the paper, and he asked me if he could contribute theater reviews and a gossip column to GayLife. (Theater was Jeff's first passion; he also dabbled in playwriting, and coproduced the Chicago premiere of "Angels in America.") Jeff's pen name, Mimi O'Shea, was a cross between New York Magazine food critic Mimi Sheraton and Irish comedienne Tessie O'Shea. Jeff decided to start Windy City Times in 1985 after his negotiations to buy GayLife stalled. He referred to the new paper as his "Plan B" when he invited me to contribute to WCT. The launching of WCT had an important political component: we wanted a politically independent and progressive newspaper that would support the reform efforts of Mayor Harold Washington, while Gay Life was perceived as supporting the efforts of Washington's opponents on the City Council as well as a planned comeback bid by Washington's rival, ex-mayor Jane Byrne. At its peak, the essence of Jeff's vision was professionalism, as I observed firsthand when I took over as editor of WCT in 1987 following founding editor Tracy Baim's defection. He aggressively pursued retail advertisers who had previously been reluctant to support the gay press, and he set high standards for journalistic quality as well. But, sadly, over the years his fierce pride, relentless competitiveness, and eccentric charm became twisted into delusional, dictatorial pettiness and paranoia. He fostered close friendships and then recklessly betrayed those friendships as his powers of judgment became increasingly erratic. He created an extraordinary journalistic legacy and then squandered it. He was a brilliant, passionate, but self-destructive visionary. The story of Jeff McCourt's career in Chicago's gay and lesbian community is a true CITIZEN KANE saga.

Jeff was the first person to give me a chance. I was only a few months out of college in 1994 when he hired me as Associate Editor of WCT after I wrote directly to him; a few years later, he gave me space for a column. Ten years later, it's still running in Chicago. I owe him, and I'm respectful of his memory and his legacy. His primary talent in running a paper, I think, was hiring excellent people. But I would like to second what Bill said---when people left WCT in dribbles (over a period of years) or en masse, it was because they weren't getting paid. Sometimes for months. They were being cursed at and belittled and second-guessed and NOT GETTING PAID, even though they were putting out one of the best GLBT papers in the country. I wonder that a "walk out" is that surprising to anyone under those circumstances. It had nothing to do with betrayal (the editors, I believe, first tried to buy the paper) and everything to do with trying to save the livelihood of an entire staff while securing a future for a strong, news-centered gay paper for the next generation. They succeeded in that. The Chicago Free Press, which I still write for as a freelancer, continues the legacy of the old WCT as a paper that tells the story of our community through sharp writing and insightful reporting.

Jeff McCourt played an incredibly vital role in the achieving of civil rights and equality for Chicago's GLBT communities, not simply via his paper's advocacy, but by his belief that the efforts in order to be lasting had to involve the entire community and not just a politically-connected few. He was smart, he was fun, he was difficult, he was Jeff. I am sad that he is gone.

Any stories like the above would be greatly appreciated and published in Gay Chicago Magazine. Please email them to me at: Must include full name, and contact. craiggernhardt@comcast.net

One of my former colleagues at the orginal Windy City Times wrote me this morning that we could never tell the truth about Jeff McCourt because "no one would ever believe it." Yet I'm certain that most of the people who survived the experience of working for Jeff share the profound sadness and sense of loss that I feel today. Jeff wasn't the kind of person you either loved or hated, he was the kind of person you both loved and hated. He was a swirling storm of a man, and my memories of him will always be illuminated by flashes of lightning. What not many people knew about Jeff was that underneath all of that bluster there was a sad little boy begging for attention, yearning to be loved. Jeff was like the Wizard of Oz, who commanded: "Pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain." But I was privileged to occasionally glimpse him and I cherished him dearly. When the wind and sound machines were turned off, Jeff was one of the kindest, wisest and dearest people I have ever known. Unfortunately, those tender moments only made it harder to bear the inevitable and jarring returns of the great and terrible Oz. The last time I saw Jeff he was in custodial care, which is what those of us who knew him well had wanted for him for some time. I had gone to visit him to make amends, to smooth over the past, to let him know that I'd forgiven him and, I'd hoped, to be forgiven by him. I was literally trembling when he appeared, not knowing whether I'd be facing the Wizard or the little boy. Thank God, it was the latter. We took a walk down the street and Jeff asked me to buy him an ice cream cone. As we sat and ate, we danced easily around the subject of the past. I don't think he actually remembered much of it. Regardless, it was clear that Jeff was glad to see me and that he only wanted to remember the good things about our relationship. He asked me to come again, but I never did. Like so many things in life, I kept putting it off until it was too late. When I worked for Jeff, we would occasionally have bizarre editorial meetings during which he would instruct me where to place various obituaries in the paper if certain people should happen to die. I always knew who was on his shit list at the time by which page he'd instruct me to bury them on. The only person who consistently landed on Page One, of course, was Jeff himself. He was fond of referring to himself in the third person, and he'd grandly declare: "Jeff McCourt, Page One." I hope someone gives him the front page. He deserves it. I love you, Jeff.

I want to thank Mr. Miner and those who have commented. As Jeff's brother I experienced all the contradictions of Jeff's personality, some stories of which have been shared here. I would like to add that in conversations I had with him over the years he was publishing WCT he constantly came back to the idea of publishing the best journalism via finding the best journalists. He wanted the WCT to be an example of what the community could be at its very best. And I think we can all say the WCT was an example of the very best that the community could produce. All the young gay and lesbian (and also straight) journalists he hired owe Jeff a great deal. The fact that gays and lesbians enjoy some legal protections in Chicago is also due in large part to Jeff and the WCT. In terms of his volatile personality. First, wow! A guy with some vision has an insecure, explosive personality. Hmm. Never heard of that before. Also, I think, as was quoted by Mr. Miner, we should attempt to empathize with people, particularly when a member, a leader of the community is suffering from AIDS, which had attacked Jeff's brain. We want "straight" America to show some empathy so maybe it is best to show it also within the community. Jeff is a good example of what so many young gays and lesbians experience in the US. He grew up in, at the time, a very conservative Upstate New York community. He first came out to me in 1986. I think it safe to say that the pressures of being gay in a conservative area helped shape Jeff in many ways. His flaws aside, he bravely left a life of comfort -- which, by the way, he constructed on his own, having come from a working-class background -- and plunged into the tough world of newspaper publishing. He was punched in the face by some goons while I was there. When I tried to get the police to come up and see him in his office they refused. This is another legacy of Jeff's and the WCT's: a government and a police that will now respond. He was also beaten with a baseball bat. Don't think that would have happened to him at the office if he stayed in trading options. The guys there only hurled jokes at him. With the man he loved dead,with no formal training in journalism, he continued on to build a great paper, which survives in the thriving gay press in Chicago today. Some comments on other points raised: Gregory Munson's comments. First, a big thank you for helping Jeff over the years. We appreciate the work you were hired to do. It is not clear that Jeff was mugged. He was certainly suffering from AIDS and was found in a snowbank and brought to Northwestern. Doctors at the time said he didn't have long to live and my sister was appointed his legal guardian. It was through the work of his doctors, AIDS medicines and our sister's wonderful care that Jeff lasted for years after that near-death experience. Jeff did in fact challenge the guardianship many times and these challenges were rejected by the court, which strictly oversaw his guardianship, after extensive reviews by psychiatrists. AIDS had simply taken a devastating toll on his brain and he would not have lasted on his own, as all doctors had said. Jeff may have created a myth of wealth but I believe almost all of his money was put into the WCT -- which paid some of the highest wages of any gay (or "straight" )newspaper in the country. Wages that were indeed paid, as those who left the paper en masse waited until they collected their last PAY CHECK before bolting. The small amount of money he had after the sale of WCT went to his care. When his money ran out our sister spent her own money on his care, flying Jeff to her home in N.C. for holidays and paying Mr. Munson, for example. Jeff was also incrediably generous to various charities and friends who needed money. More may have been written about his involvement in theater. His help in producing Toys in the Attic, for example, went unnoticed here and was a risk he took because he loved that work. He loved the theater since high school. His play is in the possession of his family, a copy of which Mr. Munson has. Anyone interested in producing it let me know! Thank you.

Another point or two: "He had HIV for almost 30 years," Munson said. "So he had that very much in control. It seemed more to me like he just gave up Not true. Jeff didn't have AIDS for 30 years. He contracted AIDS probably in 1984-85 and was diagnossed in 1986. He didn't have AIDS "under control". The virus had attacked his brain. Mr. Munson would not have been hired to come and visit him if Jeff had AIDS "under control". Jeff would not have been living where he was if he had AIDS "under control". Our sister would not have been taking care of him if he had AIDS "under control". He would not have died at the young age of 51 if he had AIDS "under control". He may have given up at the end but that is not what killed him. The devastating impact AIDS took on his body and brain killed him. When he was dying in Northwestern he didn't give up and made a remarkable comeback to live on a few more very tough years.

Jeff gave me my start after I graduated from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. I was proud to go work as a full-time news photographer for a paper that he viewed as the "New York Times of gay journalism." He meant it, and I believed it. That was 1993. A lot has happened from the time I started working for him in that small Montana St. office until the Free Press was started. But for now a happy memory: I recall one Christmas at a staff dinner. In the whirl of the evening (Jeff was seated at the head of the table looking unexpectedly dashing in an elegant bright red jacket he was fond of). I was near the other end, and in a quiet moment in between all the laughter and chatter, he caught my eye and gave me a humble smile—and an endearing wink. Most of his newspaper family was gathered around him that evening, and he was clearly delighted to be the charming center of it all. Not a lot of people know that Jeff came to visit us at the Free Press office after we started the paper to reminisce and wish us well. I have the pictures of him in the boardroom to prove it. Farewell Jeff. -Jason Smith

Dan, Thanks for the corrections and update. I contacted Mr. Miner so I could get a hold of you for a few answers to questions. Please email me if you would. Craig Gernhardt Publisher Gay Chicago Magazine

For the record, Jeff was not public about his HIV status. In fact, he denied having HIV throughout the many years that I knew him. I learned about it by accident just several months before leaving Windy City Times, and I wish that I'd known sooner. There's an elephant in this blog that we're all pretending doesn't exist -- and I'm speaking of alcoholism and addiction. I don't think we're doing Jeff or the GLBT community, which suffers hugely and disproportionately from these problems, any favors by our silence here on the tragic role they played in Jeff's life. Jeff was in enormous emotional pain, and like so many GLBT people, he turned to self-medication. By the time I met him in 1990, he was already beginning to exhibit the kind of delusional behavior and psychotic episodes associated with late-stage alcoholism and addiction. We, and by "we" I mean many, many of us, struggled to keep his business afloat during prolonged lapses during which he'd seemingly disappear off the face of the earth. We would beg off the creditors, sweet talk the many offended advertisers and keep the editorial process moving along in his absences, only to have him return in full rage because he didn't like the way that we'd done things while he was missing. And during these times we would indeed go unpaid for unnacceptably long periods of time. Most of us hung in there with Jeff for way longer than we should have because we loved him and believed in what he was doing. It was the model of an abusive relationship. Just when we thought that we couldn't take it any more, he would dazzle us again with his brilliance, turn on that incomparable charm and promise to change. Because we wanted so badly to stay together and make it work, we would force ourselves to believe him. The enabling cycle would begin anew, and it was always worse than the one before it. Several times we talked about staging an intervention and involving Jeff's family. In fact, I thought that we had approached members of the family about the problem toward the end, but I could be wrong. Maybe we only talked about it. If only we had done more to address this problem, which was hardly a secret in the community, maybe things could have turned out differently. But here we are, still skating around the subject as if it was too shameful to mention, still engaging in the same conspiracy of silence that cost the world a brilliant mind and a beautiful soul.

Louis' revelation of "this problem, which was hardly a secret in the community" is apt. I can't recall that I ever met Jeff McCourt personally, but I had read WCT from its inception and heard plenty about McCourt from mutual acquaintances, "including but not limited to" disgruntled former employees. Just seeing the nom de plume "Mimi O'Shea" prompted a nostalgic smile, as I remembered the days when Gay Chicago was practically the ONLY queer rag in town. In short, I'm saddened to learn of McCourt's little-noticed death, for he did make a lasting contribution to LGBT journalism and "community" in Chicago, quite apart from questions of personal reputation. Still... As I was reading Miner's obituary and this blog, I detected the odors of both suppression and innuendo, and I couldn't help suspecting that McCourt's notorious drug use played a part in his untimely demise. I'm glad Louis has brought this "distasteful" issue into the open, hurtful though it may seem to McCourt's family and friends, if only because good journalism demands airing all the facts. That said, while I myself cannot confirm as a fact that McCourt had drug problems, I can confirm that it was widely perceived to be so, and that drug abuse was generally assumed to have precipitated his professional downfall. Tsk-tsk-ing moralism is beside the point, whether about drugs, AIDS, or even subcultural kookiness. If we view the past 20+ years through those proverbial rose-colored glasses, Chicago LGBT history will end up more deeply closeted than any of us ever were, and that would be a silence worse than death.

Redfaced Correction: I erred when I wrote, "the days when Gay Chicago was practically the ONLY queer rag in town." I meant to refer to GayLife, of course.

While were doing our Chicago gay publishing history lesson - Here's where it all began. Grant Ford was the original publisher of Gay Life. In the seventies, Grant and my father had the only gay press in town. Grant sold the paper to Chuck Renslow. Grant Ford became involved with the MCC (the Metropolitan Community Church) and Chuck Renslow ran Gay Life for seven years. Years later, Grant was the pastor who married my sister. Chuck read the eulogy at my father's funeral last year. Talk about a few degrees of separation. We in the gay publishing industry are always competing each other. But in life, we need to all remain companions. After all, the gay public who picks up our publications on a weekly basis, relies on us for information not found in the mainstream news. I want to thank Dan for the email and help with some research. I hope our tribute to your brother touches you and your family as much as putting it together has touched mine. What you read here about your brother needs to be talked about and this forum is a perfect starting point. Maybe Chicago Free Press or Windy City Times will cover that angle in they're editorial section? After all, they're the hard hitting newspaper's. We're just the entertainment guide. Or as some call us, the 'bar rag'.

Bravo to Louis Weisberg for outing the "elephant" of substance abuse as a factor in the warping of Jeff McCourt's personality to the point where his judgment and his relationships were irreparably damaged. I'm sure AIDS was also a factor, as Dan McCourt says. (I would also like to note that Jeff's special affection for Dan was one of the most important things in his life.) Another factor, which I referred to in my earlier comments, was Jeff's pride. He may have been diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, as Dan says. But if that's true, he lied about his HIV status to even close friends. Since his lover Bob Bearden had died of AIDS it was natural to be concerned that Jeff also had the virus, but Jeff always always always refused to acknowledge it, just as he refused to confront the substance abuse problems. Looking back over these comments, it strikes me that what the unnamed "McCourt loyalist" whom Michael Miner quotes in his original blog quotes really nailed it when he said: “I hope Jeff finds balance and happiness and hope he finds peace from the suffering of the life that he’s living.” Perhaps by losing all he had built up (and being forced to sell WCT for a fraction of what it had once been worth) Jeff did finally find peace. One other point: if Jeff was as important a figure in the community and the media as we all know he was, it's strange that his family didn't release an announcement to the media (the dailies as well as the GLBT press), or at least post a death notice. If they did, I for one missed it.

As a writer who left "Gay Life" to join Jeff's brand new baby "Windy City Times" (first created out of Jeff's apartment on Belmont as "Chicago Free Press" would later be published out of Lisa Neff's home), then quit the latter because the dream had all but choked to death in a smoke-filled corner office, I prefer remembering the good times before the hard ones, his fight for a city-wide gay rights bill rather than his rocky "romance" with Ryan Idol. It was a labor of tough love to be theater editor for a publisher who adored every block of Broadway and hated how his window looked out on Orleans Street and not Times Square. Our theater season previews left no company behind; Jeff insisted on that. He was so proud to underwrite the local debut of "Angels in Amerida" and served on the board of American Theatre Company (then American Blues) until, as usual, his personality outwore his welcome. I remember how eagerly he "reviewed" his unproduced "The Midnight Room," basking in imaginary raves. The fact that even in his dementia he held onto that 1992 drama and bequeathed it to an unknown future is the saddest, sweetest final item in a lifelong agenda of moving and shaking.

I think it was out of Jeff's Briar Street, not Belmont Avenue, apartment where Jeff & Drew & Bob founded the WCT. I arrived on the scene about 6 months later after being blown away by Jeff's brilliance during my job interview with him at the Rodde Center.(Interview is a term I would use loosely -- it was more like a work of performance art conducted before an appreciative and impressionable audience of one). Jeff was a visionary who understood the latent potential of gay publishing in the late 1980s and was prepared to exploit it -- for better and worse. He dominated and manipulated those around him in his quest to achieve an unprecedented level of quality and prestige for his baby -- the Windy City Times -- after Bob's death and Drew's buyout. He created new precedents in g/l marketing as well as journalism, and lamented extravagantly at how underappreciated he was. Well, he was. But Jeff's character flaws were as large as his accomplishments, and that's why he had few or no friends visiting him at the end. And given his chain smoking alone, it's amazing he lived past 35. Forget his HIV status and the alcohol. I certainly will always miss Jeff at his best. In spite of his grandiose narcissism, he read other people extremely well, appreciated and respected their talents, and was also the most playful of pranksters. He told me -- this was following his arrest for cocaine possession (did I mention?) -- that during his brief residence at Cook County Jail he befriended a wayward inmate and counseled him on how to better his life. The guy was quite grateful and wished to exchange phone numbers. Jeff really didn't want to go THAT far, but rather than hurt the guy's feelings he scrawled 588-2300 on a piece of paper -- the phone number from the Empire Carpets jingle! That was classic Jeff: charming, deceitful, but someone who ultimately made a difference for the better in somebody's life. There are many of us out there.

Lawrence Bommer and Steve Alter are both wrong (sorry, gents): the first office of Windy City Times was Jeff's apartment on Melrose (not Briar or Belmont), just west of Lake Shore Dr. The dining room was the production department. The living room was the reception area, for advertisers, news sources, political candidates seeking endorsements, etc. In the bathroom was a billboard-sized collage of photos of naked and seminaked hunks, which Jeff always had to remember (but sometimes forgot) to store in the closet when visitors were coming. After Jeff secured new offices for WCT, he sold the Melrose St. condo and moved with Bob (who was then very weak from AIDS) into a third-floor walkup rental on Barry Ave. He moved some of his furniture from the condo over to the WCT offices -- including a lovely glass coffee table which I unfortunately shattered during a struggle when the offices were invaded by baseball-bat-wielding thugs.

After reading of Jeff's death, that which I mourn is the fact that I never knew the Jeff McCourt unburdened by chemical dependence. His contributions to the community are irrefutable, but by his own hand did he fall short of greatness. I began working for a Windy City Times already racked with Jeff's "delusional and psychotic" behavior. Unfortunately, that is the only Jeff McCourt I knew. I mourn this man's passing, and send my sincere condolences to his family, but I must also point out that the man who built Windy City Times was gone long, long ago.

Jeff McCourt and other GLBT publishing pionneers like him are one of the major reasons why we even have a gay advertising market today. In the tumultuous atmosphere of Chicago GLBT publications and personalities, Jeff McCourt created a business that sprouted many other publications and agencies. Every gay newspaper, magazine, blog, podcast or television program that gets advertising money owes it in part to the seeds planted decades ago by this complex man. As the nature GLBT media grows and changes, it's important to look back on our roots as a community and recognize this man, both for his struggles and his accomplishments. I never met the man in person, but his impact is felt by me any many others. Thank you Jeff McCourt.

Thank you for the many comments here. Jeff did indeed suffer from problems and, I am sure, caused problems for many, some of you who have been posting perhaps. I think the key points of his life are: He is like many young gay men growing up in conservative America. The fact that he didn't come out to me until 1986 reveals what kind of country we live in. The fact that he didn't reveal his HIV status to some is also, maybe, a comment on our society. He left a relative life of comfort to plunge into the, literally, dangerous world of newspaper publishing. He set out to hire brilliant journalists, many of whom have commented here, and create a newspaper that would be professional and advance the community. That happened. Politicians woke up and started to seek WCT's endorsement. Through the work of WCT (and many others) the community now enjoys some protections. As was said, he saw a market and went out and helped convince conservative business people to take out ads in the GLBT press. Did he have huge problems? Of course. Do you ever stop to wonder why? or why he was able to do what he did even with those huge problems? I hope that we can, as was suggested, reach out to those facing similar problems and appreciate what Jeff did and what is being done in Chicago and the GLBT community by so many today. Best to you all.

Dan, my condolences to you. I feel compelled to point out that many, many people did stop & wonder why Jeff suffered as much as he did and made concerted efforts to help him over the years. The chief tragedy is not that others didn't empathize and attempt to reach him -- believe me, many people did. In fact, his friends and employees spent an extraordinary amount of personal time listening to Jeff, contemplating what they might do for him, giving him emotional support, and trying to convince him in countless ways -- sometimes subtly, sometimes bluntly, sometimes cajolingly, and virtually every other method imagineable -- that he needed help and needed to change certain things in order to become happy and fulfilled. Jeff had a tendency to regard himself as a victim of others' callousness and betrayal. But the fact is that he placed enormous barriers before anyone who reached out to him, and refused to take his own well-being seriously. Sadly, there is only so much other people can do for a person who consciously refuses to help himself. People really, really did try.

Let me add to Steve Alter's last comments above. (Steve was business manager of Windy City Times when I was its editor.) An important aspect of Jeff that has fallen through the cracks in these blogs is that in his heyday he was A HELL OF A LOT OF FUN. He was sharp-witted, playful, outrageous, and he knew how to party but also how to work. One of the reasons WCT was such a fine paper back in the days when Jeff ran it was that he understood that doing good for the community could be -- should be -- fun as well as serious. We had FUN holding politicians' feet to the fire; FUN exposing the misdeeds and failings of so-called gay leaders; FUN shaking up the retail establishment and making them respect the power of gay consumers and the gay press; FUN working and socializing with GLBT business owners and advertisers; and FUN competing with rival publications as we tallied up the news scoops, page counts, and sales figures. Unfortunately, some of what helped Jeff have and be fun became addictions (chemical, sexual, emotional). And when it came time to face and fight those addictions, Jeff put up unbreachable defenses against the friends who wanted to help him -- including friends who'd fought these same battles in their own lives. He turned to flatterers, gigolos, and fellow addicts for companionship while driving away the people who really could help him. The most unforgivable case of this was his decision to fire longtime Windy City Times columnist Jon-Henri Damski, a community treasure, a key player in the founding of WCT (and in its survival after WCT editor Tracy Baim defected to start Outlines), and the best friend of Jeff's late lover Bob Bearden.

Hello Steve and Albert! I appreciate your comments and the struggles you went through with Jeff. Someone suggested to me holding a benefit to raise funds for AIDS awareness (or perhaps another direct idea?) in Jeff's name. I would love to do that and see you all again (or meet people for the first time) and hear more. If you have an interest please let me know. Take care.

I first met Jeff when Bill Williams dragged me to a fundraiser for some alderman. I saw Jeff standing with both his arms in casts, as a result of the beating he and Bill took. He was trying to drink a Dewars on the rocks. I felt so bad for him, I rushed over and held up his drink and we were friends from that moment on. He loved theater and told me that if ever I wanted to do a play he would produce it. I said "Toys in the Attic", and he did it. It was a critical success and resulted in American Blues Theater's (now American Theater Company) only Jeff Award. He became our board president and well, that didn't work out too well, but his contribution to our theater was invaluable, we were struggling and he helped. I have many, many Jeff stories, we talked about everything, and he told me right off he was HIV, but I never heard him complain about it once. I know Jeff had a lot of problems, but I thought of him as a kinda genius who couldn't handle it. His mind never shut off. I remember watching him sleep once and his eyes were blinking, he was fidgeting, it was like watching a million thoughts. He could name who and what won Tonys, what year. He could do that with movies too. I saw him a couple of years ago, as I live in New York now, and yeah, he wanted control over his life back. I could tell that was not a good idea. But, he wasn't bitter. He said he loved his brother Dan and really liked Munson, and that he loved me and was proud of me. I know Jeff was extremely difficult, but really, didn't we all learn something from Jeff. I will miss him, and oh yeah, his play "Midnight Room", actually isn't bad.

There are givers and takers in our world and Jeff was a giver. He supported many non-profits, arts, theatres, and individuals. He may have had his faults as a manager and employer, but would help any employee in need. I remember getting my car towed while selling ads and he sent someone to pick me up and payed the tow fee. This was nothing compared to the lavish parties, vacations and dinners, etc. that many of us enjoyed throughout the years. I feel fortunate that he let me into his life and called me his friend. Cheers to Jeff, my life is better having known him.

Jeff..I'll never forget bowling with him up in Michigan, spending time drinking and eating at his lovely apartment, visiting him at Barr...His support for my career was unflinching. We had our problems with Toys in the Attic, but rarely have I ever been treated with such love and respect by a producer. I'm so lucky to have counted Jeff as one of my friends...and as my friend Rick Paul said yesterday..."Jeff would bring in a tray full of drinks during technical rehearsals from the bar for the designers...NOW THAT WAS A PRODUCER!" We love you Jeff...despite all and because of it all: let's all raise a glass. Cheers!

Jeff instilled in me a confidence that I carry to do this day. He recognized my sales ability as soon as I started as a young rep at The Windy City Times and did much to nurture it -- and me-- during my four year career with the newspaper. To this day I look back at that period of my life with great pride. I firmly believe that I worked for what was once the greatest LGBT publication in the United States. I have missed Jeff for years. I hope peace has found him.

I’m Dan Page, former Production Mgr. & Art Director of Windy City Times [1998-2000]: I was Mike Miner’s aforementioned “McCourt loyalist,” the quote is a paraphrase from my electronic journal. My heart goes out to Dan McCourt, Diane, and family members as well as others who mourn at the loss of this friend and publishing pioneer. Jeff McCourt was a charismatic pioneer in the history of gay media; on that we all agree. His spirit was beautiful, energetic, and inspired, but he was also human, as are we all, lest we forget. Of the full-time staff, I was the only one who stayed during the METICULOUSLY PLOTTED walk-out in August of 1999, without notice, the week before the Market Days issue, an 80-pager that was the 2nd largest issue of the year. They already had their first issue of the Free Press in the can and ready to publish. I stayed with Jeff to rebuild the publication from scratch and we never missed a week until the final issue in July 2000, of which many, but not all, bundles were distributed. I helped deliver them, so I know; thanks for the ace reporting though, Gary Barlow (a.k.a. the only WCT staffer from the post-mutiny to sully his reputation by working for FREE … er… I mean… for the Free Press). Let me state the obvious omissions in the official story for those not familiar with the inside baseball of the whole walk-out: (1.) The timing of the mutiny was planned to CRIPPLE Jeff (in every sense). They had hoped to buy the publication at firesale prices, and, if not, to destroy it gleefully *[The attempted to do so by undercutting the marketplace ad rate standards – a plan that backfired when their financial security suffered from $200 half-page ads, and volume discounts on the fly. ] **PLEASE NOTE: The current FREE PRESS full-time staff boasts NONE of its lead editorial or design staff from Windy City Times walkout (where have the pious mayrtrs gone?? Why did they abandon their baby?? Hmm…). It appears the grand dream of big paydays, and an employee-owned and -managed utopia was an epic FLOP that Jeff lived to see in his final years.] > Karma is a bitch, ain’t it?? < Mimi would have laughed heartily at that one, I am sure of it. (2) Jeff was out of town the weekend of the mutiny because two staffers, a couple, who were among the Free Press founders, had encouraged him to go to his Michigan summer house. This same couple had encouraged Jeff to indulge in his excesses of choice and supplied him with their favorite contact # for that purpose. One of these same 2 staffers had offered me K [which I refused] during work hours as I was laying out pages for the IML issue in May of 1999, and he and his partner had used Jeff’s office to smoke more than cigarettes. These two staffers played on Jeff’s insecurities, purported to be great friends of Jeff’s – often partying with him, going to dinner and events unrelated to the paper. The staff plotted, and plotted, before they left many months in the making.– shopping for retail space, selling ads space and copying electronic files for the Free Press, encouraging Jeff to stay away from the office by manipulating his trust. Though the list of comments on this blog have been generally reflective, some touching; there is also a degree of REVISIONIST HISTORY by former staffers. I have a hard time understanding how cold a person must be to want to jam ONE MORE KNIFE into the back of a dead man who helped launch their careers. A blog comment will not undo the karmic imprint on your conscience of what you know you did and the malice with which you conducted yourselves over the year you sought to bury Jeff and his business. Here are a few FACTS that should not be ignored in the pious hand-wringing of those who sought end of Jeff’s publication through their malicious efforts: (1.) I worked for Jeff from December 1998 through August alongside the mutineers before their walkout, and I collected paychecks on the same day they were dispersed to all. Jeff was very hands-on with the financial administration of the publication *(no rubber stamp was there, fortunately for him), so occasionally there were delays in paydate. During that time, there were a couple of paychecks that were a few (no more than 3) days late. My checks were always good, never bounced. So the Free Press mayrtr routine regarding fear of destitution is bullshit and really must stop. (2.) Jeff paid exceptionally well, and was a very generous man who hired top talent. He paid more than any of the alternative papers in town, more than many national magazines or metropolitan newspapers pay their rank-and-file writing and design staff. ** As art director, I made $50,000, and the editors and writers made mid-$30- to mid $40,000. *(Check out MediaBistro.com’s salary surveys and you can see that this is very atypical of its publishing niche.) (3.) Jeff was one of the most hands-off managers in the publishing business. Period. He hired talented people and trusted them to do quality work. In fact, he encouraged us to even shake it up more than we had hoped. Creative carte blanche, but adhering to the journalistic standards which had led his publication to its tenured and revered status in the industry. He loved to brainstorm, but he did not micromanage. Furthermore, he spent much time out of the office, entrusting his staff with his baby. (4.) The Free Press mutiny had begun its initial planning in 1998, even before I joined the staff in December. (5.) Timmy Samuel’s first words to me as I interviewed to join the staff replacing him including many disparaging and lurid SECOND-HAND tales of Jeff’s alleged debauchery, perhaps one of the most unprofessional interview comments I have ever heard. He didn’t care he was burning a bridge, because he was already building one with the Free Press mutineers. That Timmy would comment on this blog to defame Jeff once again after his death says more about Timmy than it does about Jeff. (6.) The Windy City Times team that we built from scratch were some of the most talented and dedicated journalists, designers, and sales staff in the publication’s history. Writer/editors Karen Hawkins, Neda Ulaby, photographer/designer Aaron Anderson, production assistant Mark Bazant, and sales staffers Marco, Phil, Jennifer, even Suzy, the former Vogue model turned receptionist – gave the reinvented publication a lifeforce that made it a viable product one year later when sold back to a founding staffer Tracy Baim, the Darrow family heiress, who publishes quality, but pays poorly. (7.) Baim’s newspaper group picked up Jeff’s publication for just under $400k, which was approximately the combined value of the guaranteed Rivendell agency national advertising bookings for the year, so it was a no-brainer. ** In the end, I am grateful it went to someone who cherished the journalistic ideals that Jeff came to trumpet as leader of the paper. Jeff lives on in each issue of the paper which he so spiritedly ran for nearly 15 years of its award-winning history. (8) The staff of Karen, Aaron, Neda, Mark, Marco and myself worked 3-day, 40-hour workweeks for much of that year to keep the paper on top of its game because we had the strength of our convictions. We believed in Windy City Times, its mission, and Jeff as our leader, in the way he was able to inspire us and trust us to produce the best paper possible for the community. Most of that staff, sans Gary, who have remained in Chicago have remained great friends both during and ever since our tenure at WCT. The bond we formed fighting the good fight and helping Jeff save his baby were reward more than money. It was an ethical and moral choice to stay and fight the Free Press. What the FreePress mutineers had done was not only unprofessional and unethical in the way it was executed; the way they had conducted themselves as human beings, moreso than journalists, in wishing ill will on Jeff and reveling in his personal problems then AND, for some, now, is one reason I am proud that I stayed, and I would do it all over again knowing that year would be the final year of Jeff’s publishing career, a bittersweet victory indeed. It was an honor to work with him. He was inspiring, and eccentric. He was sometimes a bit mad, but fought his disease bravely as one of the survivors of his era, never letting himself be defined by a virus, but instead persevering in spite of it. Most of all, Jeff had heart. The FreePress backstabbers had talent, but no heart, and that is why their ill-spirited experiment failed, publishing now as a pale shadow of its founding incarnation. Yes, Mimi, karma indeed! We will miss you, Jeff. Goodbye old friend ! · If anyone wishes to have a benefit in Jeff’s name, I would be proud to help, as would others on the 1999-2000 staff. Please contact us – via my email is dpageil@earthlink.net. I am also currently getting my 2nd Master’s degree currently (the 1st in writing, the 2nd in digital filmmaking) and would love to entertain the idea of a doc about Jeff and the history of the alternative newsweeklies in Chicago. Let me know if anyone would be interested in being interviewed on camera. *[ If honest, I welcome all, even the FreePress folks if they are willing to tell the truth about their defection.] Best wishes, Dan Page

In my passionate recalling of that year,I forgot to include the name of one of our key players, a talented man who is a great entertainment writer to this day, as well as an editor in the publishing sector: Tony Peregrin. He's a wonderful colleague, a great friend, and I hope he forgives my aging memory as a 34-year old with an overtaxed schedule. Thanks Tony. Jeff always liked you, and had great faith in you, Karen, and Neda as his editorial pillars in that final year of the paper. Thanks for being there til the bittersweet end. -Best, Dan

I didn't know Jeff terribly well, but I knew him over a period of several years. I “came out” by doing cartoons for WCT back in 1986 or so. After Tracy left, Jeff stopped accepting my cartoons. He said they weren't funny. Later I was with Windy City Gay Chorus. He called to sell ads. He mentioned how funny my cartoons had been. That’s when I realized that he often said whatever sounded good at the moment. Later on I took ads in WCT for my own company, and talked to Jeff periodically. He once told me that he’d inked a deal to sell WCT for over $1 million. And once that his play was opening on Broadway next season. His delusions and bragging; his need to act like you were the most important person in his life - until the phone rang - I thought of as simply hugely exaggerated versions of the self-aggrandizement that lots of sensitive, insecure souls engage in. Maybe, in a way, some of us are Jeff McCourts writ smaller. Not as extreme or self-destructive, but perhaps not destined for large public achievements; since both often come from the same deep need for approval. In my experience, Jeff could be generous in ways that transcended self-interest. When Chorus attendance was down, I asked Jeff to help. We weren’t a big account, but he gave some ads for free, gave verifiably great deals on others, preferred placement and other perks. His ad revenues were good at that point, he knew the Chorus would continue advertising each year, and he asked for no comp seats or ego-stroking in return. We needed help. He wanted to help. He helped. The two gay choruses had planned a joint fundraiser - a midnight cruise on the Odyssey. I mentioned it to Jeff and he got excited and said he’d sponsor it. I called the next day to see if he remembered making the offer. He stuck to his commitment, fronting the deposit for the cruise, and running half-page ads each week at no charge, most with no mention of WCT sponsorship. He was on board the Odyssey for the cruise. We wanted to introduce him; to publicly thank him. He begged off. He was stone cold sober. He just seemed uncomfortable with public attention. Neither he nor his paper got anything tangible out of backing that event. I believe that he simply wanted to do something good for his community. I’ll remember both sides of Jeff McCourt. But I’ll try to understand the negatives while being grateful for the beneficent side of a complex guy. Sam Heller

I hadn't seen Jeff in almost ten years, but I will always remember him fondly. When we started Martyrs', Jeff was our greatest customer. His generosity & thirst in large part kept us in business for our first year. He ran a tab here nightly for himself & the other members of our neighbors, the American Theater Company. He always took great care of us, and I am forever grateful to him. It's very sad to read about how the last years went for Jeff. My sympathy goes out to his family & all of you who were close to him. If you are in need of a venue for a benefit in his memory, I would be honored to have it here.

Is it my imagination or did Gary Barlow rip everything out of this blog for his story then put his name on it like he actually did work? What a hack. Hey Gary, why don't you do a story on why CFP isn't in good standing with the State of Illinois? Or why you're running a business out of a improperly zoned office space? Maybe write about the lawsuits filed against Rainbow media?

Re "CFP Plagiarism"... All the quotes in my story in CFP were from interviews I personally conducted with the people quoted. It would have been easy for you to verify that by contacting them yourself, but since you don't have the guts to put your real name on your post, you're obviously not interested in honest reporting... That's also obvious from the other lies in your post. Our occupancy permit is hanging on the wall of our office and we're not facing any lawsuits. But then again, your gutless reluctance to say who you really are is ample evidence that you know you're being dishonest... That said, I tried in my story to honor and acknowledge Jeff's positive accomplishments for this community and for the gay press, which were considerable. That was also why I submitted his nomination for the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2005 and why I still believe he deserves inclusion in the Hall. I would hope that people would use this blog to talk about Jeff and not to attack other people and settle whatever scores they feel like they need to settle, real or imagined. Show a little respect for the man.

I would like to second everything that Gary posted, particularly the part about inducting Jeff into the Hall of Fame. It's an honor that's long overdue. A friend from the old days of WCT sent me an e-mail this morning lamenting that this blog had deteriorated into a "queeny bitch fest." It turned her off so much that she decided not to post the tribute she'd written. Think about this: If Dan Page is such a "Jeff loyalist," then why did he never warn him about the impending "mutiny" that he claims to have known so much about, why did he call me for several weeks after we left asking for a job, and why is he now grinding his ax on Jeff's tombstone? Louis Weisberg

Subject change: I moved to Chicago in 1987 to start grad school at Northwestern. Totally closeted (even with myself!), I can't describe to you how exciting it was to walk into the student-union building at Northwestern that first semester, and to find a pile of "Windy City Times" just inside the doorway. Gay people had newspapers?! Wow! Such legitimacy! Right away, WCT became my lifeline to the LGBT community, locally and nationally. (Seriously, I didn't even know what "lgbt" meant back then, until WCT told me!) Reading the articles, I first learned about about organizations and individuals that later became incredibly important to me. Through a classified ad, I found out about a group of men and women who wanted to form a Masters-level swim team, which soon became "The Smelts." The founders of that group became dear friends with an immeasurable, positive influence in my life, teaching me -- at a point in my life when I was quite vulnerable -- what it meant to be a happy, healthy gay man. (Thanks Joe, Patrick, Martha, Laura, Jeff, Michael...) When I finally came out to my parents in 1988, my mother begged me not to show up on Oprah (since that's what all gay people in the 80s did, apparently). I never made it to Oprah, but a huge photograph of me marching in that summer's Pride parade ended up in the WCT. I sent it to Mom and asked, "Is this good enough?" I even went out on one of my very first dates with -- gasp! -- a man, through a personal ad in the WCT. The guy's tendency to talk about himself in the third person, and fresh batch of hair-transplant plugs sort of doomed our one date from the get-go, but he dragged me around to a bunch of the bars around Halsted/Belmont -- another initiation into gay life. Over the years I became friends with folks who knew Jeff, but he and I never met. Despite all of his flaws -- and I applaud those who speak of them honestly, because without being open with each other, how will we learn? -- he had an incredible influence on my life through his newspaper. Thanks, Jeff.

I wanted to mention two more significant things about Jeff. One -- echoing what Kate Buddeke said above -- Jeff's mind was EXTREMELY fast and encyclopedic as well. That's what made him so formidable, in my opinion, both as a force in Chicago and as a business competitor within the g/l publishing community. While being always a man of action, he possessed this vast mental database of facts, statistics, lists, and amusing anecdotes that allowed him to talk shop with virtually everyone -- politicians, journalists, critics, advertisers, actors, directors, activists, playwrights, and even waiters & waitresses. Perhaps more notable than that dazzling talent, though, was Jeff's ability as a writer. This was often unsung since he had so much else on his plate. But consider this: Jeff personally won a Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism in 1998 for his editorial "The Politics of Passion." I just googled this and found that the award category for which Jeffrey E. McCourt won included these criteria: "Good embrace of reality; holds politicians accountable, outlines a community agenda." What more to say?

Jeff was a visionary who recognized that a professional newspaper that adhered to high journalistic standards would be an important asset to the LGBT community. And the community recognized it. At Pride parades, there would be a constant wave of applause when the WCT float went by. I have never seen any LGBT publication anywhere be so warmly honored by the community it served. People recognized how fortunate they were to have such a top-notch publication informing them about the issues affecting their lives. And although I had the pleasure to work with some amazingly talented people who put out an outstanding paper each week, the quality of WCT was at root because of Jeff. He's the one who green-lighted a critical investigation of an experimental AIDS clinic even though it was one of his top advertisers and he stood to lose---and indeed did lose----tens of thousands of dollars as a result. He's the one who allowed me and other reporters to spend days and sometimes weeks on that and other important stories, who spent the money to cover national political conventions and state legislative sessions. Doing that was, and still is, rare for a LGBT publication. But he recognized that what happened in the state Capitol or at the conventions had a profound effect on his readers' lives, and he saw it as his part of his service to the community. WCT under Jeff was an advocacy paper that followed many of the tenets of the highest quality mainstream publications. Clearly the paper had an agenda, but he encouraged stories that were fair to all sides. It was because of this that politicians from across the political spectrum, and even people from the Christian Coalition, returned phone calls. That meant a more complete and informed picture of issues for readers. As others have noted, Jeff's financial management of the paper was somewhat shaky at times. I left WCT--and Chicago--in 1996, so I wasn't there for the problems that led to the founding of the Free Press, but I did receive a few checks that either bounced or were late. Yet, as Dan McCourt points out, Jeff paid among the highest wages in the GLBT press. Jeff told me that he would never hire an unpaid intern, even though he had received applications, and even though it was standard practice at many publications. It violated his sense of fairness. I certainly realize that Jeff had flaws, and that some of those flaws led to him losing WCT. But what's most important to recognize upon his death is the great legacy he left, a legacy that in some way benefits everyone in Chicago's LGBT community to this day. Farewell, Jeff. And thanks.

Louis, Don't flatter yourself. I never called you or considered taking a job with your karmically-stained rag. My dog did find a use for it however. The only reason I didn't warn Jeff is that the only proof I had of the mutiny in advance was a to-do list that Jeff McBride (the brainiac of your grand dream team) left in my in box along with ads I had to design. Remember that ?? I confronted him, but he was such a cosmic joke as the brains behind any plan that I really did not think the plan had any legs behind it. Little did I know how many months and manhours on Jeff's dime that you folks had been scheming, selling ads, stealing ads, and "borrowing" electronic files that Jeff would later threaten to sue you over. [ glad he dropped that and moved on. ] I didn't know until the day of the walkout that the rest of you were so intimately, and actively involved. Now Louis, go talk to your cats, as you are apt to do, and keep trying to convice yourself that what you did was just, and that Jeff was not harmed emotionally, and otherwise by your actions. Good luck. p.s. I wrote a 30 page account of those events and the year that followed in 2002 when I was in grad school, and haven't really thought of it all much until now. BUT Seeing you people slam Jeff for drinking and partying (proclivites many of your fellow mutineers were quite adept at abusing themselves) was just about all I could take. Jeff isn't here to defend himself, not that he would if he were, he would likely have told the critics to go *#@ themselves, but slamming the dead is low, even for the likes of the backstabbers that founded the Free Press. You are better than that, I am sure. And I am sure you are not without your own "elephants," so why cast stones at the grave of a dead man who you claim to hold in such high esteem? Jeff's memory deserves more than that. * Lastly, your entire group's rightgeous official stance as founding the Free Press as victims of Jeff's oppression is such a load of B.S. It was founded out of greed, illwill, and opportunism. You had an issue in at the printer as you received your last check from Jeff, had already given your complete story to Mike Miner to coincide with your first issue, had bought a billboard on Halsted St. with you sleazy financial backers, and had been planning it for over 6 months. Stop respinning those same 8 year-old lies and deal with the truth. Peace.

Dan, we haven't met, but I must state your comments about CFP are soiling this blog that is meant to honor Jeff's accomplishments and memory. If you have public grievances with CFP, this is not the forum for them.

Steve Alter and David Olson's recent posts (including Alter's comments about Jeff's Lisagor Award) illustrate the falsity of the misguided, self-aggrandizing claims of some people in the community that Jeff was "too biased," or that he was a businessman, not a journalist. His journalistic standards--and accomplishments--far surpass those of some of his principal rivals in the GLBT press.

Jeff’s journalistic ethics were in an entirely different stratosphere than those of the "some people" Bill refers to. Some people’s recently published revisionist potshots at Jeff’s history left me purple with rage (yes, Bill, it was rage and not bruising from my latest cosmetic surgery). Reading that drivel, I couldn’t help but be reminded of some egregious ethical lapses that Jeff would never have committed: printing puff pieces about investors in his paper (there were none) or about advertisers who were promised favorable coverage in exchange for business; starting a public-relations firm and running it out of his newspaper’s office, using his newspaper to further the communication goals of the firm’s clients; publishing un-bylined, slanted press releases about controversial subjects as if they were news; refusing to cover significant newsmakers or news events that he personally didn’t like, such as the largest gathering of GLBT athletes in history; creating conflicts of interest by becoming involved in community organizations that his paper covered – and then covering them in a transparently biased manner. Jeff raised the bar in gay journalism by avoiding these kinds of glaring breaches of public faith. It would behoove those who have sullied the reputation of the GLBT press by refusing to follow the simple and obvious principles outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics to avoid drawing attention to anything having to do with the "E" word. The original Windy City Times -- the WCT founded by and run by Jeff McCourt -- employed basic journalistic conventions that other GLBT publishers in Chicago aren’t even capable of recognizing. Jeff staffed his WCT with professional journalists who wrote in clear, precise, standard English and turned out the level of copy one would find in any daily newspaper rather than in a failing high-school essay. It was because he adhered to high standards that his WCT was able to become such a player in Chicago politics and effect so much positive change on behalf of the GLBT community. People -- from the average reader to high-level public officials -- took Jeff’s WCT very seriously, because its brand of legitimate journalism was a force to be reckoned with. Jeff’s vision of quality journalism applied from a gay perspective helped make our world more visible and helped make the world-at-large an infinitely better place for all GLBT people. To insinuate that Jeff was a mere "businessman" or to dismiss him as "biased" is to denigrate a lifetime of achievement by a self-made man (not born into privilege, not even close to being an heiress) who overcame incomprehensible demons to do more good in the world than "some people" who are now reaping financial benefits from his hard work are even capable of doing.

I can't claim that Jeff McCourt gave me my start as a writer--the credit (or the blame, depending on your vantage point) goes to Jon Barrett, whom I believe was an associate editor at WCT back when that newspaper was still readable. But Jeff always expressed his pride with my work, and his encouragement meant a lot. It is indeed tragic that the WCT in its current form is his epilogue; willful ignorance is a necessity when working at a weekly newspaper, and I'll chose to remember Jeff as I choose to remember WCT: not for what they became, but for what they once were.

I first met Jeff McCourt in 1981 when we worked together at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He taught me a lot about options trading and for awhile we worked together. As talented as Jeff was he did not seem to have the right temperament for trading. Trading takes a certain detatchment and Jeff took gains and losses too personally. In 1983, I sublet Jeff's apartment on Lake Shore Drive. A female friend from college once asked me to introduce her to a successful trader and I invited Jeff and her to dinner. Afterwords she asked me if Jeff was gay and I had to confess that I had never really thought about it. I learned more later. After Jeff left options trading, we saw each other a few times. The last was sometime in the early 1990's. He gave my wife a copy of "The Midnight Room" to read. I am pretty sure it is still around somewhere, and I think that I will dig it out to read again. I knew Jeff before he was a publisher and I cannot comment on all the controversies that surrounded that part of his life. However, I am grateful for the time that I got to spend with him and I am glad that we were friends. My condolences to all who loved him.

I remember Jeff mentioning you and your wife, Vince. It meant a lot to Jeff to keep in contact with his "straight friends" from his days as a trader. I'm glad you saw the blog. Thanks for contributing to it.

Jeff was a friend for 20 years and a former tenant of 9 years. We used to leave the back doors of our apartments unlocked and open so Jeff, my husband, our son and I could borrow things, exhange recipes, have political discussions on the front veranda and shared dinners on the back deck. During his nusing home years I would bring him chocolate (he always asked for cigarettes) and we would both pretend he looked good and more vigorous than the last time. I have met most of you who have contributed to this blog. Steve Alter, Jeff respected and liked you, I think, more than anyone else. I think you/we all agree that Jeff, in his better days, was someone very special. I will always miss and remember the Jeff Mc Court of the veranda days.

Better late than never, I suppose. I was so saddened to hear about Jeff McCourt's death. Like others(Jay Vanasco, Jason Smith) have mentioned, Jeff McCourt also gave me a chance - and by doing so, he changed my life. I was the lone straight girl at the paper and was at WCT through a marriage, a pregnancy and my first child. Jeff, to his credit, allowed me to bring my baby girl (who's now 10) to work and was a great sport about it (good luck getting away with that at a straight newspaper). Jeff was a character - and a highly emotional person. But there was never a time when I couldn't see the goodness in him. Yes, he was a little crazy at times, but he was a kind, extremely generous person. As far as the drinking and drugs, I'm quite sure he's had his fair share, but things are not always as they seem. I'll never forget the time he took my now-husband and I out for an engagement celebration dinner. We met at his house in Uptown for a glass of champagne and then got into his car to head to a restaurant in the Loop. Just outside Buckingham Fountain, Jeff was pulled over by the police. After failing the "walking sobriety test," Jeff was taken into the police station, where he was advised to skip the breathalizer and plead guilty. Jeff asked my husband, who was fresh out of law school, for advice. After talking to him, my husband advised Jeff to go ahead and take the test. I was a little concerned, especially when the police officer began to mock us. But my husband was convinced that Jeff's over-the-top personality was to blame in this case - not alcohol or drugs. To my great surprise, he was correct - and Jeff passed the test. My husband wisely went home at that point and Jeff and I finally had our celebration dinner at about 2 a.m . . . with a few cocktails and a couple of cigarettes if I recall correctly. Jeff was a charming, talented man and I have thought about him often since his passing. I wish I had seen him during his illness, but will remember him fondly when he was at his best: full of life.

I was lucky to have worked for Jeff, as the WCT Advertising Manager, during the early years (mid 80's). He worked hard, pushed others to work hard and he played (too) hard. He once teased me - when I tried to party with him on a "school night" but couldn't make it home so had to crash on his couch - that I had "a type A mind trapped in a type B body". Jeff had a type A+ mind and a type A+ body. He was often best of friends and sometimes the worst of friends. I am privlaged to have known him and to have learned from him. Jeff's contributions to building the LGBT communities' power base in Chicago is unprecidented. The balance between his journalistic ethics and his marketing skills made WCT one of the top 3 or 4 queer newspapers in the country within a few short years of it's being established. I am shocked and disappointed to hear that he has not previously been inducted into the Hall of Fame. He deserved it a long time ago. I am so glad to hear that he did have loving family to help take care of him during his last few years. Linda Henderson Hansville, WA

YIKES! I just realized that Jeff died in 2007, not 2008 and was glad to see that he has been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Linda

I'm sorry to come so late to this thread and to this story. I wish I had known earlier of Jeff's passing. I wrote as a freelancer for the WCT throughout the 80s, sometimes under my own name, and sometimes under the pseudonym "G" (I wrote the column "G Spot"). I knew Jeff was a character the very first time I spoke with him in his office. I noticed the picture had had facing him on his desk was...of himself. I know many people were screwed over by Jeff. That's something that just can't be denied. However, my experience with Jeff was overwhelmingly positive. He supported me completely as a writer, giving me basically carte blanche to write whatever I liked, even when others might object. More interestingly, for someone with a reputation for bargaining down to the last nickel, he very graciously always paid me 100% of my fee, even when a story of mine didn't run. That was very rare around the WCT, and I doubt it was a reflection of my literary merit. You cannot reconcile people's contradictions, only note them. I was fortunate enough to experience many of his better qualities, and very few of his undeniably ugly ones. RIP.

Working for W.B. Grimes & Co. as the first newspaper mergers/acquisition broker in the United States who paid any attention at all to GLBT publications (and who widely circulated a white paper proposing a chain/group of GLBT publications, accomplished several years later by Window Media), I represented the Windy City Times and Jeff McCourt when the newspaper was officially for sale in the early 1990s (see Chicago magazine article about that). Yes, Jeff was not the easiest guy to work with or for--utterly maddening and utterly lovable at the same time. And he turned down a handsome written offer--I don't remember all of the details, but it was at least $750,000 in cash and several hundred thousand more over several years--and I was surprised, disappointed, annoyed, even angry, that he turned down such an offer. But I couldn't help but admire a guy who had such confidence that an even better offer would come along, although it never did. Rest in Peace, Jeff, I will always remember and respect you.

I cant beleive he lived till '51. Jeff gave me a job in '93 to be his assistant to the publisher. Quite a broad description. The job entailed getting him breakfast and coffee when he was too hungover to get it himself. Then Id sleep on his couch while he called people on the phone. One of the most generous people I ever knew. At times one of the demanding people I ever knew. I think the trading at the CBOE made him this way. I still have a copy of "The midnight Room". I was one of the 100 people he dedicated it to. The last person was probably the last one to see him. He told me once, "You cannot imagine how much money can be made in options". My ship finally came in last month with some options. What I like most about the guy is that he had a death sentence of HIV and enjoyed every day as if it was his last. He carried it for 30 years. It didn't eventually get him...I think the partying did along with the coma. He beat HIV. It didnt take him. He took himself out before HIV could. I respect that. He lived life like many of us would like to. Living every day as if it was his last. He never really got over burying his lover Bob and his sudden death. He thought he would share the same fate. That thought is what killed him not HIV. Thanks for letting me hit on the lesbians at WINDY CITY Times Jeff! They were hot! As a straight guy in a gay and lesbian paper there was no sexual harrassment. I got it and gave it. Long live Windy City.