Please do read my remembrance, from National Review Online, of somebody who paved the way for so many conservative communicators. And what a great character he was! — Quin

Word comes via Reagan biographer and conservative PR impresario Craig Shirley that Victor Gold, one of the great publicists of the conservative movement, passed away June 5 at age 88. Let not his passing go unremarked, or his contributions unremembered.

Gold, a Korean War veteran, did yeoman’s work as a top press aide on Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964; provided some of the most delicious and conservative words for Vice President Spiro Agnew to utter; worked for the presidential nomination campaigns of Ronald Reagan in 1968 and 1976; handled a large load of other conservative/Republican accounts; helped the elder George Bush write his autobiography; and wrote or co-authored several other books — including, quite entertainingly, a satirical political thriller co-authored with Lynne Cheney about a vice president who dies in (sexual) flagrante delicto. (That summary barely scratches the surface of his long résumé.)

Even before those national political adventures, Gold played a bit role in helping the nearly morbid Republican parties of both Louisiana and Alabama to start their slow ascents to dominance. ….

[That was just the resume part. To read about Vic’s absolutely unforgettable personality, please follow this link.]

[For what it’s worth, the New York Times obit for Vic is here, and it really is good; and the Washington Post‘s is here.]