Remembering a fellow book lover

Kirt Card
September 9, 1949 - May 12, 2008

I first "met" Kirt back when I worked at the University Bookstore at UNL. This was way back before the wide wide world of webs, when all we had for reference were publisher catalogs and the multi-volume Books in Print (hard copy only). And the occasional helpful personal contact: sometimes a bookseller at another store, maybe a UNL faculty member, or sometimes a staff member at a publishing house. I had called the University of Nebraska Press a couple of times trying to track down regional titles and ended up talking to a guy named Kirt. It quickly became apparent that not only was this guy intimately familiar with the UNP list, but he knew a ton about regional titles in general. And to top it all off he was incredibly friendly and patient. Soon I started calling UNP and asking for Kirt whenever I had an oddball question or couldn't remember (again) where to get that Weeds of Nebraska book. I even told new employees, as part of their training, to call him if they had questions about regional titles.

In September of 2000 I started working at UNP. It had been a while since I'd worked at the bookstore so I hadn't talked to my pal Kirt in a while. I was excited to finally meet Kirt in person—I think I kind of freaked him out by being all spazzy fangirl. I was surprised by how quiet and shy he was in person. I was lucky enough to have worked with him for a few years. He was just as friendly and patient as a coworker as he had been on the phone. Also, as Erica writes, he made some very memorable contributions to our food days! We all miss him greatly.