The Late David Rakoff's Early Radio Days

In one of its earliest shows, our national, weekly public radio series The Infinite Mind, looked at the development of the minds of infants.

One of the subjects the show looked at was the phenomenon of child prodigies, including what produces kid geniuses, and why it was that many lost their edge as they got older.

We had heard of David Rakoff's work, and assigned him to do an essay for the radio show. We gave him a blank slate, and he came back with more than an essay; he wrote and performed a remarkable first-person account of a fictional former prodigy, replete with nuanced personal insights, confessions and the kind of tormented drama that would later become David's trademark.

We always were pleased that we had a role in his early radio days. His powerful combination of wit, compassion and humanity will be sorely missed and lives on in his work.