Commentary: Great Americans Gone in 2021

Angelo Codevilla and Rush Limbaugh

The February 17 departure of Rush Limbaugh got the most attention, and deservedly so. To instruct and entertain simultaneously is a tough task, and Limbaugh performed in fine style. There may never be another. 

That description also applies to Angelo Codevilla, who died at 78 on September 21. His “remarkable intellect and insights,” were on full display over a long and productive career. For his many readers, and those who didn’t know him at all, the brilliant scholar might have saved the best for last. 

Born on May 25, 1943, in Voghera, Italy, Angelo Codevilla came to the United States in 1955 and became a U.S. citizen in 1962. The eager immigrant earned degrees at Rutgers, Notre Dame, and Claremont Graduate School and taught at Georgetown, Stanford, and Boston University. Along the way, Codevilla served in the U.S. Navy, as a foreign service officer, and a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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Commentary: Our Indispensable Man

Angelo Codevilla

“The graveyards are full of indispensable men,” goes the old saying, and who could argue? The sun rose this morning as it did yesterday and will again tomorrow. Life goes on, as always, for better and often for worse. But now it is a life bereft of the remarkable intellect and insight of Angelo Codevilla, a patriot who despised what he saw his country becoming and who sought to rouse and educate his fellow Americans to resist.

Truly, he was our indispensable man.

He was remarkable, too, for his energy. It isn’t quite correct to say he was indefatigable. At 78, he couldn’t help but slow down a bit. But this was a man who survived two heart transplants and a number of recent health challenges. Even when he was sick, he kept writing and working.

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Commentary: Angelo Codevilla, ‘The World’s Most Privileged Man,’ Has Died

Angelo Codevilla was many admirable things in his long, productive, and amazing life: an immigrant, a student-athlete, a naval officer, a scholar, a husband, a father, a foreign service officer, a Capitol Hill staffer, an adviser to senators and presidents, a distinguished author of great insight and foresight, and—above all things—a patriot. Although he had already accomplished a great deal in his 78 years and faced some recent health challenges, he was determined to overcome these and never abandoned the fight.

Angelo, who died Monday night, was a man of great energy and spirit, raring for the battle, and determined in every way he could to contribute to it.

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