Compared to that, I’m living in clover

Susan told us in her final post on Caringbridge (which you must visit) that she wants her legacy “to be all of you,” “a human chain of those who have guided and influenced me, and whom I touched and influenced.”

I am among the fortunate many on this human chain, in my case through 10 years with Susan on The Chronicle’s board of directors. For all those years, Susan served as The Chronicle’s moral compass, full stop. She guided us through once-new territory like how to apply our journalism values to the online edition; she helped each year’s editorial team navigate all order of difficult ethical and journalistic questions; and, most recently, she helped us grapple with this time in which the contributions of skilled journalists have never been more needed, yet the business model that enables them is disintegrating all around us.

Susan shaped my thinking on many topics, and I know she had this impact on lots of us. How? Susan has always been uncommonly gifted at making herself heard. To every interaction, she brought not just clear thinking but evidence, experience, analogies, passion, empathy and most of all, humor. And so she was—is—the consummate influencer, commentator, professor, reporter, and always, friend.

Not long after the Haiti earthquake, Susan posted, “Compared to that, I’m living in clover.” That statement really struck me at the time, and now I keep coming back to it and imagine I will for a long, long time. Thank you, Susan.

Trinity ’99