Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324         Page 542543544545546547548549550551552553554555556557558559560561562563564565566567568 of 592

Books, novels.

History?

Histories.

What kind do you read?

Well, mostly I'm enamored with books about the press. I just finished Max Frankel's book on the New York Times. I've read several books on that. One of the problems is that some of these books are in hard cover and very heavy, very hard for me to hold them up. So I wait until they get into soft cover. I'm a great follower of E.L. Doctorow, whom I know very well, and Studs Terkel, whom I know very well, and other writers.

My nephew Eric is a very big supporter. My brother Henry is very close. He's the only other brother left, and he works with me on many projects and is available at times. He's brilliant, he writes extremely well, and he's available when I want help. He's working on this project, on the labor history site, the artifacts of labor.

The website.

The website, yes.

And did you have a role in the genesis of that?

I was involved when the idea was broached. They came here to ask me what I think, and I just expanded on what they had in mind, and they agreed to it. So in many ways my knowledge, my background, is still put to use, and I have physical problems, but I manage.

Let's go back to that memorial meeting for Davis, and then that would be a good place to jump across and talk about Dennis Rivera and your relationship with him. But just to finish off with that memorial meetings about Davis, you told us who spoke, and you spoke about who was there. Could you summarize the tone of what people said about Davis's career, what he meant for working people in New York and the labor movement in New York? Do you remember anything? Could you discuss that?

Well, for the most part, they spoke about the union. For example, Martin Cherkasky spoke directly about Davis and his experience and relationship with him and his great admiration and respect for a guy like Davis. Ossie spoke of Davis on the basis of