Ever since I started reading Updike (Rabbit Run) at the age of 12, I have idolized him. I have read and collected all of his books.

I even met him personally. At a book signing in my hometown of Rochester, NY, in about 1992, he autographed his latest book for me and admired my 1 year old baby boy, whom I had in tow.

I thought he was an amazing author and person. Even in this age of the internet, after many moves and downsizings and the winnowing down of my book collections to the absolute essentials in recent years, his books remain front and center on my one remaining bookshelf.

So, not knowing he was even ill, I was shocked and saddened to read of his passing. He was a major force in my life, in my literary as well as sexual education. I will always treasure the book he signed for me, and the memory of our meeting and how he reached out to my baby son and I. In his words-

"If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men, and become merely machines for eating and for earning money."

He was a man.