I posted Elliot Maggin's thoughts about Julie and then decided, "Okay…no more that aren't by me." But then this one came in from my pal Mindy Newell, another fine writer who worked for him. And since it's Mindy and it's so nice, I'm making an exception. Here it is…
Julie was truly one of a kind, and a man who was not only shaped by his era, but who also helped shape the era he lived in. I will always remember him with love and a smile, which is the best way to be remembered — we should all be so honored!
My favorite memory of Julie is how he used to feed those pink sucking candies he kept in his office at DC (when it was at 666 Fifth) to my daughter Alixandra, who was only four when I first started in the business. She, with a young person's true sight, saw right through his gruffness, and displayed no fear, only putting out her hand again and again for another candy, calmly and patiently staring down Julie's gruff "You want another one?" until he delivered.
My other memory of Julie is one from before I became a comics professional, and dates back to the late '50's and early '60's, when Julie was the editor of the Superman books and I was six and/or seven — 1959, 1960. Anyway, I was in a science quiz…the question was "How far is the Earth from the Sun?" Of course I knew the answer — 93 million miles. The teacher and the principal were so impressed! And you know how I knew the answer? Because when Julie was the editor of Superman, and Supes flew to the sun, his Editor's Note said: "The Sun is 93 million miles from the Earth." Julie always put little facts like that into his comics in those days…it was also how I discoverd that krypton is an inert gas, and how I learned what "invulnerable" means, and, oh, so many other things!
Julie, you were a true mensch, the living proof of how one life touches another and another and another until, to paraphrase the Talmud, you havae touched the world.And I will miss you. We all will. And when I told Alixandra (now 24) tonight that you had crossed over, she said, "I remember him. He used to give me all those pink candies."
Alechem shalom, Julie.