William Rivers Pitt memorial fundraiser for Lola:

[demmiblue]

Our beloved friend and colleague William Rivers Pitt, a brilliant and soulful writer whose work moved the hearts of millions, has passed.

We are shaken beyond words. The world has lost a great mind and an even greater heart.

Soon, we will share much more about Will, and our love for him. We will surely, in many ways, be memorializing Will for as long as we all live.

But for now: If you know Will, you know he loved his nine-year-old daughter Lola more than anything, and would want her taken care of. We’ve worked with Will’s family to create this fundraiser in the hopes of raising some money to support Lola's needs, including her future education.

All funds raised will go directly to a trust for Lola. Please give what you can.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/william-rivers-pitt-memorial-fundraiser-for-lola

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[cilla4progress]

1. RIP

[leftstreet]

2. Wow. So this is confirmation that he passed?

Still no wiki update or news item

How horribly sad

[no_hypocrisy]

3. KICK

We all came together for Andy Stephenson.

Let's do it again.

Help Lola go to college so she can be as amazing (if not more than) as her father.

[MuseRider]

11. We will be there...

gotta work it out then will send.

That poor girl, how hard this will be for her. Her Mother and her Grandmother will be a huge help but if we can do this is will be ever so much easier.

[blm]

4. 🕯

No words.

I’m no Will Pitt.

Lola.

[jaysunb]

5. His last Facebook post 3 days ago now reads like a

Premonition. .

RIP

[librechik]

10. God yes--Twitter too!

[demmiblue]

14. I don't do Facebook, but I saw the Twitter post.

indeed!

[BComplex]

6. OMG!!!

Will Pitt was on DU from the earliest days, and was always working for democrats across the board. His writing/articles/posts were always thoughtful and thought provoking. What a terrible loss! I'm so sorry he's gone!

RIP, Will!

[Solly Mack]

7. ...

[hlthe2b]

8. Thank you. I'd been watching Truthout for a notice of some kind and in fact just emailed them

to ask them to confirm that Will had, indeed, passed. I should have thought an "in-memoriam" announcement of some kind would have been posted to Truthout.org, but I guess everything is twitter now.

This is nice that they are organizing for Will's daughter. I'm told she is 9 now. I've not heard anything about Will's wife, who I recall had MS. Can anyone speak to how she has been?

Thinking of all Will's friends and family at this shocking news. And much love to Raven and his daughter and wife.

[CousinIT]

9. What a horrible turn of events. Most of all for his family, then...

...for the rest of us who lost a vital voice and a cherished friend.

[dalton99a]

12. Kick

[crickets]

13. .

[Carlitos Brigante]

15. K&R! nt

[intheflow]

16. Thank you for posting.

Like so many of us, Will Pitt was one of the folks who made DU so amazing in its early days, and I continued the friendship with him on Facebook after he left here. His devotion to his daughter, his incredible talent in holding pessimism and optimism at the same was inspiring.

Donated for Lola, and RIP, Will.

[orleans]

17. from his fb page

2 hrs ago from maya schenwar

My beloved colleague and friend, William Rivers Pitt, Truthout's lead columnist, has died.
I'm heartbroken. I was Will's editor, and we talked most days of the week for 15 years. We became close friends. He was a brilliant writer--a wordsmith beyond any I know--but also a person with tremendous heart. I will have much more to say soon, but for now, I want to just share this terrible news; I am sure many of you knew and loved Will.
In the comments, I'm sharing a way you can support Will's 9-year-old daughter Lola, who he loved more than anything in the world. ❤

3 hrs ago from david skalka

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to share on social media. I’m so incredibly heartbroken by the sudden loss of my best friend and spiritual brother, William Rivers Pitt. Taken from us far too soon, Will was a force of nature in every way. Passionate, articulate, brilliant, loyal, funny… I can’t even sum him up with mere words which is truly ironic because he wielded the English language like a fencer uses a blade. To say that I’ll miss Will is so short of the mark that it’s completely inadequate. For 35+ years he was my confidante, my partner-in-crime, my sounding board and one of my biggest supporters in life. I can only hope that he felt the same way about me. I’m pretty sure he did.
Over the past 24 hours since I learned of his passing, the memories have come tumbling out of my head of all of the incredible experiences we shared, through fun times (and there were so many) and sadness (few, but always bound us closer together), I just can’t imagine a world without his great big boisterous laugh, his bear hugs and simply hearing him say “I love you, brother” at the end of every conversation. Will was a generous soul who would do anything for the ones he cared about. He was a fierce defender of the ideals that he held so dear and dedicated his life to fighting the good fight, often times on behalf of people who couldn’t fight for themselves.
I’m absolutely gutted right now for his mother Jane (who is still like a second Mom to me) and his daughter Lola who was unequivocally the absolute shining joy of his life. I’m hurting for everyone who knew and loved Will, truly one of the most unique and incredible people I will ever know. I’m sad for my friend. The world glows a bit dimmer today without him.
RIP Will. I love you, brother.

4 days ago from william rivers pitt

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I'm getting older, too...
-- Fleetwood Mac

[Mister K]

18. A sad day indeed. ...Been following Will for years.

[demmiblue]

19. $15,509

[Ellipsis]

20. $21,720

[Rhiannon12866]

21. Thank you so much for posting, honoring Will, Raven and Lola. $52,461 raised of $75,000 goal

[CatWoman]

22. K; R

[Sky Jewels]

23. It's above $52,000 -- hope they can meet the new goal

of $75,000. I made a small donation.