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"Remembering Kevin Drum"
Last edited Tue Mar 11, 2025, 12:10 PM - Edit history (2)
Just to clarify, I am not related to Kevin Drum. He was not my husband. The excerpt below is from a blog post written by his actual wife.With a heavy heart, I have to tell you that after a long battle with cancer my husband Kevin Drum passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025.
No public memorial services are planned.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice.
A Facebook page, 'In Memory of Kevin Drum', has been created as a place for friends and family to share memories of Kevin. I encourage you to post your thoughts and memories there
No public memorial services are planned.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice.
A Facebook page, 'In Memory of Kevin Drum', has been created as a place for friends and family to share memories of Kevin. I encourage you to post your thoughts and memories there
https://jabberwocking.com/
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Remembering Kevin Drum
Josh Marshall
Kevin Drum died on Friday. Many of you knew Kevin’s blog. For those who didn’t, he was one of the first well-known politics bloggers, dating back to early in the first George W. Bush administration, and he never stopped. His last post was three days before he died. He began as “Calpundit” and then took his blog in-house at a series of publications before again going independent. His passing was not a great surprise. Kevin was first diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago and recently shared with readers that as part of that ongoing battle his health had grown acutely precarious.
snip------------------------------
One interest we shared was the enduring question of what caused the late 20th Century Crime Wave. Why did it start and why did it, more or less out of the blue, end? He got really into the theory that lead contamination was the driving culprit behind the whole thing, beginning with the post-War boom until the dawn of lead remediation in the early 1970s, creating a generation of subtle but, at a societal level, pronounced brain damage. He put the whole thing together in a definitive way in this 2013 piece in Mother Jones, where he was then an in-house blogger. I’d always been of two minds on the whole lead/crime thing. It really did seem to line up. But everything about my acculturation and academic training taught me to have deep skepticism about such monocausal explanations. When Kevin was convinced, I knew I had to take it seriously.
Today I noted Kevin’s death on social media and said I’d need to collect my thoughts before writing anything. I had heard he was likely at the very end of his life, but when a TPM reader broke the news to me in an email, it still hit me like a punch in the stomach. One of the commenters said that it was because of Kevin and his writing on the possible connection between lead poisoning and crime rates that he ended up studying lead and brain development. I thought to myself, there’s no better tribute than that. I’m sure there are so many other stories about how Kevin’s keen mind and curiosity touched and changed people’s lives.
He was 66 years old.
Josh Marshall
Kevin Drum died on Friday. Many of you knew Kevin’s blog. For those who didn’t, he was one of the first well-known politics bloggers, dating back to early in the first George W. Bush administration, and he never stopped. His last post was three days before he died. He began as “Calpundit” and then took his blog in-house at a series of publications before again going independent. His passing was not a great surprise. Kevin was first diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago and recently shared with readers that as part of that ongoing battle his health had grown acutely precarious.
snip------------------------------
One interest we shared was the enduring question of what caused the late 20th Century Crime Wave. Why did it start and why did it, more or less out of the blue, end? He got really into the theory that lead contamination was the driving culprit behind the whole thing, beginning with the post-War boom until the dawn of lead remediation in the early 1970s, creating a generation of subtle but, at a societal level, pronounced brain damage. He put the whole thing together in a definitive way in this 2013 piece in Mother Jones, where he was then an in-house blogger. I’d always been of two minds on the whole lead/crime thing. It really did seem to line up. But everything about my acculturation and academic training taught me to have deep skepticism about such monocausal explanations. When Kevin was convinced, I knew I had to take it seriously.
Today I noted Kevin’s death on social media and said I’d need to collect my thoughts before writing anything. I had heard he was likely at the very end of his life, but when a TPM reader broke the news to me in an email, it still hit me like a punch in the stomach. One of the commenters said that it was because of Kevin and his writing on the possible connection between lead poisoning and crime rates that he ended up studying lead and brain development. I thought to myself, there’s no better tribute than that. I’m sure there are so many other stories about how Kevin’s keen mind and curiosity touched and changed people’s lives.
He was 66 years old.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/remembering-kevin-drum
47 replies
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But I so much appreciate your reaching out here, at such a heavy time. He really made a difference. LOTS of people all over everywhere are smarter and maybe even more strongly committed toward real democracy and positive change because of him.
Here’s a hug:
I read through some of his posts at the link you provided. He was smart and witty and his last post was just a few days ago. What a beautiful man.
If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know.
Love to you and yours.
💙
Sending you and your family hugs and prayers. Kevin will be missed.
Sympathy to those who knew and loved him and to all those whose lives he touched ...
R-I-P Kevin
I read some of his posts in the link, and he was a very smart and wise man.
