He ’embodied the best of us’: Family and friends mourn Eric Boehlert in Montclair – NorthJersey.com

Montclair’s First Congregational Church was packed on Tuesday for the funeral of Eric Boehlert, who was killed by an NJ Transit train while riding his bike on April 4. 

Boehlert, 56, a media critic who founded the blog Press Run, was hailed by colleagues, family members and friends. A relative read tributes from his children. 

Doug Stauffer, who worked with Boehlert at the nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters America and later booked him for some of his “hundreds” of television appearances on MSNBC, said, “People just loved talking to him, getting his perspective. He was smart, witty, personable and always prepared. 

“The dude didn’t have to be as nice as he was.”

Journalist Soledad O’Brien said Boehlert was “brutal to bad media, and then he was kind and he was sweet and he was fair. 

“When he launched Press Run he said, ‘We can’t mend this American mess if we don’t try to fix the press.’  But who has the energy in a world awash in fatigue? Who wasn’t afraid of losing their job, the enmity of social media and the wrath of strangers?” she said. “Eric was the answer. He loved democracy enough and the promise of American journalism that he dedicated himself to saving both. 

“He decried the normalization of racism, misogyny, homophobia and anti-Semitism and was repulsed by access journalism. He did not suffer fools or bigots or people who got lazy or scared when it came time to fight for fairness. He had the temerity to believe the press should look like and listen to the American people. 

“Anyone who’s committed to democracy lost something when we lost Eric,” she said. 

More coverage: Friends say Eric Boehlert had a ‘beautiful life’ in Montclair, and his death is a shock

Boehlert’s love of music was mentioned by many, and selections for the service included some of his favorites, such as “Wagon Wheel,” and “Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise.” The recessional was Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita.” 

Rich Ullman, a friend from Montclair, said Boehlert would always supply the soundtrack for their bowling league at Montclair’s “Eisenhower-era” Commonwealth social club, which he described as “unpretentious and classic, just like Eric.” He said Boehlert also played for 15 years on basketball and softball leagues in town. “He was quiet and relentlessly good-natured but fiercely competitive,” Ullman said. “I don’t know what it will be like the next time we try to bowl, dribble or throw, but it won’t be the same,” he said.

His brother Bart Boehlert read a Yeats poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” to honor the family’s Irish roots in County Sligo, home of the poet and Boehlert’s great-grandfather. 

Childhood friend Tim Devaney, who met Boehlert in eighth grade in Guildford, Connecticut, said he had an “infectious smile, twinkling eyes and snarky sense of humor.”

“He parachuted into our lives as a superstar in many ways. We were in awe and we still are.” 

Devaney said he spent the “best summer of my life,” on Martha’s Vineyard with Boehlert and a bunch of friends when they were young and single, a summer “engineered by Eric.”

Plenty of questions: ​​​​​​​NJ Transit says gates were down when Boehlert killed, but residents call crossing sketchy

After some funny stories involving skunks and tiny bedrooms, he described one evening at the beach, when they all started running on the sand flats.

“Something in our youthful innocence made us just run and run, like young mustangs. We were touched by some deity that would let us feel no heed. I remember it was the most blissful feeling of speed, love of friends, love of this beautiful life that I’ve ever known. 

“Eric embodied the best in us, he inspired the best in us and led the way. He was a journalist who never shied away from the uncomfortable truths that the nation heard from his lips and his pen,” he said. 

“I’d like to think and believe that those friends are out there still, running endlessly and joyfully across the scarlet flats of Cape Cod. And you, Eric, pulled out in front of us, maybe a step or two or three in front of us, but we are out there still, forever.”  

Julia Martin is the 2021 recipient of the New Jersey Society for Professional Journalists’ David Carr award for her coverage of Montclair for NorthJersey.com.

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Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com

Twitter: @TheWriteJulia