Yesterday, writer and cultural critic David Carr died at the age of 58. Carr's rise to writerly fame was an unlikely but inspiring one: He overcame a serious addiction early in life and went on to become one of the most beloved writers at The New York Times.
Carr, who grew up in Minnesota, began experimenting with cocaine and crack in the 1980s. Though he eventually entered rehab and recovered, his struggle with drugs and alcohol was long and well-documented. In his 2008 memoir, The Night of the Gun, he tells the story of hitting rock bottom: when he left his twin daughters in the car (at night, alone) while he went to buy crack from his dealer.
In an essay adapted from the book, Carr reflected on that night and on what could have happened, writing:
"Are you willing to destroy others, including little babies, in order to feed the monster within? Not in my case, but it was a much closer call than I would like to admit. I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve, but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end any time soon."
Carr was an inspiring writer — tough and honest, at once delicate and penetrating. His media career spanned more than 25 years; prior to joining the Times in 2002 (where he was a business reporter and the columnist behind the Media Equation) he was a contributing writer for The Atlantic Monthly and New York Magazine as well as an editor of alternative papers in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis.
The day of his death, Carr joined Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald to lead a panel discussion about the new documentary film Citizenfour before collapsing on the floor of the New York Times newsroom. He is survived by his wife and three children.
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