Eulogy

By Speed Vogel

JOSEPH HELLER used to say he'd rather have a big meal than a good one. His friends were used to him grabbing the waiter to demand two large spoons and digging in first. One evening, when a huge bowl of soup was placed on the table, Joe announced, "Gentlemen, I'll serve." We watched in awe as he filled a bowl, wondering what had come over him. Then, instead of passing the soup to anyone, he just said, "Now you serve." We were relieved. We wanted him just the way he was--irascible and incorrigible. His passions were books, music and friends.

For a while, his East Hampton doormat read GO AWAY, and his roar and mane were leonine. But underneath that mask of grumpiness was one of the softest and kindest men I've ever met. He was constantly interweaving the lives of the people he knew, making sure they were cared for. Joe could be gleeful as a schoolboy about the success of Catch-22, and he often said how grateful he was for the G.I. Bill--otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford college.

One day Mario Puzo joined us for lunch and mentioned how he used to play three wishes as a kid but had now reduced them to one: "To die in my sleep." These two good friends did exactly that. It makes the grieving a little bit easier when people get what they wish.

--Speed Vogel, co-author of No Laughing Matter, which deals with Heller's struggle with Guillain-Barre syndrome