A humor columnist (and social and political commentator), Buchwald found fame in Paris after World War II, and then in Washington D.C. There, writing for the Washington Post, his column was syndicated to as many as 500 newspapers, and won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1982.
“The joy of his column was not that it was side-splitting humor,” said former Post editor Ben Bradlee, “but that he made you smile.” In February, when his doctors told him he was dying, Buchwald went into a hospice — but came out when his body didn’t fail as quickly as doctors predicted. By then news of his health had broken out. “The French ambassador gave me the literary equivalent of the Legion of Honor,” Buchwald said. “The National Hospice Association made me man of the year. I never realized dying was so much fun.”
When he did die, he announced it himself in a video, which he made for the New York Times in July: “Hi! I’m Art Buchwald, and I just died!” He did so January 17 from kidney failure. He was 81.