Nathan Irving “Nat” Hentoff, Jewish-American jazz critic, historian, novelist, and columnist for the Village Voice from 1958 to 2009, and for the Wall Street Journal from 2009 until the day he died, passed away on Shabbat, January 7.
Hentoff was born in Boston, Mass., the son of Lena (Katzenberg) and Simon Hentoff. He graduated from the Boston Latin School and earned a B.A. with the highest honors from Northeastern University. He did graduate work at Harvard University. In 1950, he was a Fulbright fellow at the Sorbonne in Paris.
As a teen, Hentoff worked for Frances Sweeney on the Boston City Reporter, investigating anti-Semitic groups. Hentoff’s memoir, Boston Boy, is dedicated to Sweeney.
On December 31, 2008, the Village Voice, which had regularly published Hentoff’s commentary and criticism for fifty years, announced that he had been laid off. Beginning in February 2008, Hentoff was a weekly contributing columnist at the opposite end of the political spectrum, at WorldNetDaily.com.
Hentoff was a civil libertarian, free speech activist, anti-death penalty advocate and anti-abortion advocate.
He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and opposed Israel’s settlements enterprise.
Hentoff, who described himself as “a member of the Proud and Ancient Order of Stiff-Necked Jewish Atheists,” died of natural causes in his Manhattan apartment. According to his son, Nick, he was surrounded by family and listening to Billie Holiday. He was 91.