Nicholas von Hoffman, "a provocative...

...author, broadcast commentator and syndicated columnist who examined American politics and culture for five decades from a left-wing perspective," according to his obit in the Times, died at age 88. (My emphasis.) In other words, what my dad would have called a "troublemaker."

I guess even Mr. von Hoffman would call himself that (again, my emphasis):

Mr. von Hoffman, who never attended college, styled himself a “creative troublemaker” after his mentor, the social activist Saul Alinsky, for whom he worked as a community organizer in Chicago before starting his journalism career at The Chicago Sun-Times in 1963.

(That's  Messrs. Alinsky and von Hoffman in the picture above.)

But, to read his obit (and I remember reading him in The New Republic back in the 1970s), Mr. von Hoffman had a distinguished career in the world of letters. So distinguished, in fact, that his obit made the New York Times. So where am I going with this? The key is in this paragraph:

Nicholas von Hoffman was born in New York City on Oct. 16, 1929, to Carl von Hoffman and the former Anna Bruenn. His father was an immigrant Russian cavalry officer. After graduating from Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx in 1948, Nicholas went to Chicago, intending to enroll at Loyola University. Instead, he took a research job at the University of Chicago, and in 1954 joined Mr. Alinsky as a field organizer in black and Hispanic communities on the South Side.

And, right away, I thought to myself, if Fordham Prep, a Catholic school, is anything like the Catholic schools I attended, I'll bet his name isn't even listed among the school's alumni on its Wikipedia page. And, yep, sure enough, I was right.

I remember noticing this when one of my journalistic idols, David Carr, died a few years back. He and I graduated from the same high school in Minnesota and I immediately tweeted the news to them. Whoever answered me obviously had no idea who he was, though, as they responded something anodyne like, "Our thoughts and prayers are with him." And, although his name appears on their Wikipedia page now, it didn't for a long time; and when it first did it linked to the quarterback of the same name! (I even wrote a post about it; click here to read it.)

And the bottom line here is that Catholic schools have gotten so conservative nowadays that they're loath to even acknowledge alums who the Soviets would have called "antisocial elements." It's one of the many things I hate about Catholic schools. As I wrote in that post about Mr. Carr:

Benilde has gotten a lot more conservative -- and "fancy" -- since I graduated way back in 1976. The place that almost closed its doors in the early '70s now seems to be one of the more "prestigious" schools in the area. (Go figure!) And, since BSM is a private school, of course, they have to always be "selling" themselves. After all, if Benilde isn't "better" than your local public school, then why on earth would you spend thousands of dollars to send your kid there? And the last thing a Benilde parent wants is for their little dears to turn out to be drug addicts like Carr! (No one else at Benilde has ever tried alcohol or drugs besides Carr.) No, BSM parents expect their precious offspring to remain squeaky clean and go on to a suitable Catholic university like Notre Dame. (And don't even think about following in Carr's footsteps to be a "writer." It's strictly business, law or medicine for my Johnny or Janie!) 

You know what would really impress me? If Benilde-St. Margaret's were secure enough to say that, yeah, David Carr struggled after graduation but turned out to be a famous, gifted writer. We don't care what he said about Benilde -- we're proud of him just the same!

Good God, Fordham Prep! Can't you at least put Mr. von Hoffman's name in the list of alums on your Wikipedia page?