In 1979, I first met William Hogan, longtime book editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. I was fresh out of SF State, the 21-year-old managing editor of his hometown weekly, the Mill Valley Record.
I idolized him. Because he was a big deal at the biggest newspaper in Northern California. Because, when he was my age, he took a train to Monterey to drop in on John Steinbeck. Because he was a soft-spoken, genuinely humble man who liked to help young writers.
And because I was in love with his daughter…