Karl Zinsmeister, a Christian who was President George W. Bush’s chief domestic policy advisor from 2006 to 2009, died of lung cancer last Thursday at age 67. Neither his compassionate conservatism nor our friendship for 30 years was what made him the most interesting man I knew.
Here are a few of the biographical points that did: Karl became a national champion rower only a year after taking up the sport. He renovated—carpentry, plastering, electrical wiring—nine or ten century-old houses and then lived in them. With a tolerant wife, he became a middle-aged embedded reporter during the Iraq War, not sitting in headquarters briefings but huddling with solders during battles. He was editor in chief of two national magazines and bicycled to his White House job.
Zinsmeister graduated from Yale University and wrote hundreds of articles along with 21 books: political analysis, war reporting, memoirs, reference books, cultural histories, children’s works, a storytelling cookbook, and one historical novel, plus a nonfiction graphic novel. He was vice president of the Philanthropy Roundtable and worked on charitable projects dealing with education and poverty.
When I interviewed Karl ten years ago in front of Patrick Henry College students, he spoke of how he started to row at Yale: “We didn’t go to Saint Paul’s or Choate or Andover or any the schools most people learned to row in. I was just a public school kid from a rural part of New York State,” he said. “I had a very charismatic coach who had decided that he could teach wide-bodied people how to row. I have the size to make it possible, and apparently I have a good heart and lungs. … I got into it, and it was just a delight.”
“One of the things I loved about it was what I’ve loved about my entire career: the discovery process,” he explained. “I love discovering new things and figuring out something that’s completely mysterious to me and unwrapping it and mastering it, if possible, and then moving on. It’s a lovely sport: You’re on the water. You usually race early in the mornings when the sun is just coming up. It’s outdoors. It’s no motors. It’s very fast. … It’s a bit like flying.”
A memorial service for Zinsmeister is scheduled for Friday, May 15, at Essex Community Church in upstate New York. His wife, Ann, wrote that his life and personal development “were much enriched by several fine Methodist pastors and congregations.”
“I hope you will wake with a smile and think of Karl for a moment on Friday,” she said. “I am certain he will be looking down warmly on us.”
More of our interview, including his thoughts on journalism, war, and politics, is published on my Substack. Ann, three children, and six grandchildren survive him. Once their three children were grown, Karl and Ann lived on a small boat for more than a decade.
His comment from that conversation sticks with me whenever I edit or feel pessimistic after reading news headlines: “You get people who have some germ of talent and then a lot of enthusiasm, and then you get a good mentor, and you have a level playing field, and really remarkable things can happen. I’ve seen that so many times. It’s not a fairy tale to me. It’s real life.”
Marvin Olasky is editor in chief of Christianity Today.
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