In honor of long-time Daily Breeze columnist John Bogert, a memorial service will take place in Marsee Auditorium at 1 p.m. on Oct. 7, Daily Breeze Digital Managing Editor Toni Sciacqua said.
Bogert, who was well known throughout the South Bay area for writing his five-times-weekly column for the last 28 years, was actually a former EC instructor, Dean of Humanities Tom Lew said.
“John Bogert briefly taught feature writing right here at El Camino back in the late ‘80s, although he certainly came back regularly afterwards as a guest speaker for many journalism classes,” Lew said.
Carol Baker, a close family friend of the Bogert’s, felt it was only fitting that the memorial be held on campus.
“He really was someone who was just a born educator and mentor in so many ways, in addition to just being a terrific columnist, so it is a really good fit,” Baker said.
However, despite his status as a former instructor, the decision to hold the memorial on the EC campus came about for more practical reasons, Sciacqua said.
“It’s a nice coincidence, but the main driving influence was the amount of space, because there’s been a tremendous amount of interest from the community in attending a public memorial” Sciacqua said.
Bogert’s column was well known for the strong responses and letters it inspired in his numerous readers, many of which he would share publicly in his column
“He wrote about everything, and if you were a reader, he was bound to write about something you would have a strong opinion about, and he would never shy away from that. He was really interested in entertaining his readers, and provoking conversation,” Baker said.
“As a writer, he was utterly fearless, and I think that’s one of the most important traits a writer can have,” Lew said.
In spite of his success as a writer and famously sarcastic sense of humor, in person Bogert was a kind and humble man, Sciacqua said.
“Sometimes people who always get their picture in the paper get kind of ego driven, and that definitely wasn’t John. He was always slightly surprised that he would get as much reaction as he did from his columns, or that people would recognize him and ask him to come speak at an event,” Sciacqua said.
Kate McLaughlin, an EC journalism instructor and former co-worker of Bogert’s, explained what she thought the key to Bogert’s success as a columnist was.
“There has never been a man both as interesting and interested as John Bogert,” McLaughlin said.
Parking for the memorial service at Marsee Auditorium will be free, and the event will be open to the public and any fans or well-wishers of John Bogert, Sciacqua said.
