Curiosity, Studs Terkel

Pioneering Radio Broadcaster Studs Terkel, 96, Dies
And the legendary radio broadcaster, writer, oral historian, raconteur and chronicler of our times, Studs Terkel, died Friday at the age of ninety-six in his home town of Chicago. Over the years, he has worked as an activist, a civil servant, a labor organizer, a radio DJ, an ad writer and a television actor. In 2005, he appeared on Democracy Now! just weeks after undergoing open-heart surgery. Doctors said Studs Terkel, at ninety-three, was the oldest patient known to have undergone such a procedure. He talked about how he survived it.

Studs Terkel: “My curiosity is what saw me through. What would the world be like, or will there be a world? And so, that’s my epitaph. I have it all set. Curiosity did not kill this cat. And it’s curiosity, I think, that has saved me thus far.”