Today I want to salute two giants of local journalism who passed away recently — Larry Bensky, who died May 19, and Narsai David, who died June 20.
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Larry, who became a legend at KPFA and as a national correspondent for Pacifica radio, was a hero to many reporters in the Bay Area because of his fearless willingness to speak truth to power no matter what the consequences, including his coverage of the Iran/Contra Scandal that won the prestigious George Polk award.
For my part, whenever I wrote about something important, I always held my breath for a few days until I heard Larry’s take on the same subject to find out if I got it right. Take the first Clinton inauguration in 1993. I was there covering it for the Contra Costa Times; Larry was covering it for KPFA.
My report came out first, and I naively bought Clinton’s act hook, line and sinker. I blush to admit it, but I actually used the line “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.” Larry, on the other hand, calmly pointed out that Clinton was a typical politician with a woman in every town back in Arkansas, and there was little reason to expect he’d act differently in the future. Which of us looks more prescient today?
Larry was often called the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh; but unlike Limbaugh, he never stooped to name-calling, personal attacks or pushing his own agenda. All you heard was intelligent conversation that made you think. His passing leaves a huge hole that I doubt will ever be filled.
As for Narsai, he was famous long before he became the wine and food editor on KCBS radio. Many people credit Alice Waters for kicking off the California Cuisine revolution with Chez Panisse, but Narsai was preaching (and practicing) the virtues of going back to the basics — fresh food from local sources, simply but elegantly prepared — years earlier at his restaurant in Kensington, Narsai’s.
He also invented Mudslide cookies (walnuts and three different kinds of chocolate), Avalanche cookies (ground almond praline with pecans) and his Chocolate Decadence cake.
“I got bad advice from a patent attorney,” he told me. “He said I couldn’t get a trademark on Chocolate Decadence because it’s too descriptive, so I never tried.”
One of his most loyal customers was a United Airlines pilot who owned a restaurant in Chicago.
“He bought 100 pounds of cookie dough every week because he could carry as much weight as he liked in his plane.”
As he got older Narsai spent more and more of his time organizing food and wine fundraisers for worthy causes, including the Berkeley Community Fund, Meals On Wheels, International House at Cal, the American Cancer Society and the Berkeley Rep theater company, where he served on the board of directors for a record 18 years.
“He was our elder statesman and biggest cheerleader,” Susan Medak, the Rep’s executive director, told me.
The project closest to his heart, though, was the Assyrian Aid Foundation, which he founded in 1991to help Assyrian victims of Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq, the land of his ancestors. He raised more than $3 million to build schools, civic centers, Internet cafes and hospitals.
The foundation also brought children to the United States for lifesaving emergency surgery and purchased fleets of minibuses to transport children from remote mountain villages to their schools. His proudest moment came when the first high school class graduated after studying its entire curriculum, from first grade on, in Assyrian.
Speaking personally, he was also fun to work with, inviting people at KCBS, including me, to his home for magnificent dinners, all prepared by him. I can still taste them now — yum!
Lastly: A couple of warnings — if you get a text reading, “Our records indicate that your vehicle has used the FasTrak Express Lane. To avoid additional charges of $46.70, please settle your balance of $4.67 at bayareafastraktolls.com,” don’t click on that link. I Googled FasTrak’s real phone number and called them, and they told me they never text customers and that this is just an identity theft scam.
Similarly, if you get a phone call from somebody who claims to be from Comcast who has detected some problems with your router, hang up. I called the real Comcast, and they said they never call customers like that and it’s yet another trick to steal your money. Moral: When in doubt, don’t.
Martin Snapp can be reached at catman442@comcast.net.