George Hodgman, 60, Dies; Wrote Best Seller on Caring for His Mother
George Hodgman, a well-regarded book and magazine editor who had his own moment as a literary cause célèbre in 2015 when he published “Bettyville,” a memoir about caring for his aging mother that also delved into his growing up gay in a Midwestern town, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. He was 60.
His cousin Molly Roarty said the cause was thought to be suicide.
As a top editor at Henry Holt & Company and then at Houghton Mifflin, Mr. Hodgman shepherded numerous best-selling and award-winning books into print. But in 2011 he lost his job in a reshuffling at Houghton Mifflin. It turned out to be his own ticket to the best-seller list.
He went to see his widowed mother, Betty, in Paris, Mo., midway between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., a visit he expected to last two weeks. Two weeks became two months, and then it became a commitment to stay with her as she grappled with dementia.
She was suspicious of him at first.
“She must keep an eye out,” he wrote in the book. “I am a schemer. There are things going on behind her back, plans afoot, she fears. She has no intention of cooperating with any of them.”
rest at link
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | December 14, 2019 12:54 AM
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May he Rest In Peace. And thanks, OP, for leading me to my next book.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 23, 2019 4:29 PM
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It sounds like he was a kind man. Sometimes the very same qualities that can make a person capable of creating a thoughtful, loving, and sensitive work of art are the same ones that can make it impossible for someone to go on living. This world will break your heart. RIP Mr. Hodgman.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 23, 2019 4:41 PM
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So terrible when people who have gone through so much and seem to have survived but then commit suicide
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 23, 2019 4:43 PM
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thank you OP for posting.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 23, 2019 4:45 PM
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[quote]As yearbook editor, he wrote to celebs, asking for their thoughts on individuality. Katharine Hepburn wrote back and said, “I don’t have time to write you,” which he and Sokolosky thought was hysterical. Gilda Radner of their beloved Saturday Night Live responded. Robert Redford’s sign-off was “May your skies be blessed.” Neil Diamond wrote, “It is only when we try to be what we are not that the God given gift of uniqueness is wasted.” George Carlin wrote, “Best of luck to the graduates of Paris R II High School—1977” then scrawled, “R II????”
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 23, 2019 4:48 PM
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Sad - but strangely I wondered what would happen to him after reading Bettyville (which was an ok, not great, book). As with many eldergays I know, the dedication of prime years to the care of and living with an aging mother leaves them disconnected from their own life and traumatized by the mothers death as a result of the connection that was built as well as the disappearance of their purpose in life.
A lesson for all of us who have taken on that responsibility. Sacrificing your own life for your mother should not be taken lightly. Admittedly he discussed his battle with alcohol and seemed to hint at depression battles. While the book describes his “cure” from alcohol, I wonder if caring for the mother was just a temporary fix/distraction from the alcoholism and mental health battles rather than addressing it on his own terms and in real life.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 23, 2019 5:30 PM
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Sad - but strangely I wondered what would happen to him after reading Bettyville (which was an ok, not great, book). As with many eldergays I know, the dedication of prime years to the care of and living with an aging mother leaves them disconnected from their own life and traumatized by the mothers death as a result of the connection that was built as well as the disappearance of their purpose in life.
A lesson for all of us who have taken on that responsibility. Sacrificing your own life for your mother should not be taken lightly. Admittedly he discussed his battle with alcohol and seemed to hint at depression battles. While the book describes his “cure” from alcohol, I wonder if caring for the mother was just a temporary fix/distraction from the alcoholism and mental health battles rather than addressing it on his own terms and in real life.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 23, 2019 5:30 PM
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^ not sure why my posts are all double posting. Apologies.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 23, 2019 5:30 PM
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Thank you for your thoughtful reply R2. I've never thought of it in that way before but I believe you are correct.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 23, 2019 6:30 PM
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The book reads differently in view of Hodgman's fate. My book discussion group read and discussed "Bettyville" and most were positive about it. Would be interesting to look for hints in the text. There was talk about a filmed version with Shirley MacLaine and Matthew Broderick but that seems unlikely now.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 13, 2019 5:30 AM
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And the Datalounge loses another...
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | December 13, 2019 6:30 AM
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It sounds like he was a sweet man. The book sounds interesting, I'm going to get it. Anyone here read it? I'm sorry he took his life. I've lost a father and a brother to suicide and had the same struggles myself since preadolescence. So I understand it, yet I always feel a little extra sad when someone goes out that way.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | December 13, 2019 6:57 AM
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When I read it, I thought “this guy is going to have issues when his mother dies”. He tries to make moving home to care for an elderly mother and giving up his city life into a great thing that solves his problem drinking. It is a good learning lesson for all the DL elders who deal with caring for an elderly mother. The book and writing are mediocre at best - but DL is the perfect target audience for it.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | December 13, 2019 7:30 AM
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He cared for his mother but did he have to assume the look of his mother?
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | December 13, 2019 10:00 AM
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Looks like Closet Cane Face.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | December 13, 2019 10:34 AM
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[quote] Neil Diamond wrote, “It is only when we try to be what we are not that the God given gift of uniqueness is wasted.”
Wise words, Neil!
This guy was cute when he was younger
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | December 13, 2019 10:14 PM
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