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He was 88 and, until very recently, was still pushing somebody’s buttons with two-finger jabs at his keyboard.His death was confirmed by his wife, Ronnie Eldridge, a prominent Democratic politician in Manhattan. Mr. Breslin had been recovering from pneumonia.With prose that was savagely funny, deceptively simple and poorly imitated, Mr. Breslin created his own distinct rhythm in the hurly-burly music of newspapers. Here, for example, is how he described Clifton Pollard, the man who dug President John F. Kennedy’s grave, in a celebrated column from 1963 that sent legions of journalists to find their “gravedigger”:“Pollard is forty-two. He is a slim man with a mustache who was born in Pittsburgh and served as a private in the 352nd Engineers battalion in Burma in World War II. He is an equipment operator, grade 10, which means he gets $3.01 an hour. One of the last to serve John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was the thirty-fifth President of this country, was a working man who earns $3.01 an hour and said it was an honor to dig the grave.”Here is how, in one of the columns that won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, he focused on a single man, David Camacho, to humanize the AIDS epidemic, which was widely misunderstood at the time:“He had two good weeks in July and then the fever returned and he was back in the hospital for half of last August. He got out again and returned to Eighth Street. The date this time doesn’t count. By now, he measured nothing around him. Week, month, day, night, summer heat, fall chill, the color of the sky, the sound of the street, clothes, music, lights, wealth dwindled in meaning.”And here is how he described what motivated Breslin the writer: “Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers.”Poetic and profane, softhearted and unforgiving, Mr. Breslin inspired every emotion but indifference; letters from outraged readers gladdened his heart. He often went after his own, from Irish-Americans with “shopping-center faces” who had forgotten their hardscr... (New York Times)

Rone was killed in a motorcycle accident on the Garden State Parkway on May 31, 2016. The Rones are natives of South Amboy, NJ."These are incredible people," Trump said as he called for the parents to join him on the stage. "Their son recently passed away in a horrible accident. He was the biggest supporter I had. Young guy. Beautiful guy. The most popular person there was. And he was just very special.""As much as some of you like Trump, I like you more than you like me if you want to know the truth. This boy was our biggest fan. He loved our country, believe me. He loved our country," Trump told the rally-goers."Say a few words about our boy, okay," Trump said as he embraced the mother of Riley Rone.Read his obituary here.Barbara Zawistowski Rone, Riley's mother, was invited on stage by Trump at a rally in Hershey, Penn. Friday night and gave an extremely moving and impassioned endorsement of the candidate in her son's honor. Rone also spoke about how her son campaigned for Trump and of his attempts to convert friends to support the candidate."When there were 17, he said Mr. Trump is the nominee. When there was one nominee, Mr. Trump, Riley said Mr. Trump would be president," Riley's mother said."In Riley's obituary, Mr. Trump was mentioned because Riley loved or loves Mr. Trump. His funeral was over 200 cars, he had very dedicated friends, there were signs, flags for Mr. Trump. Riley's grave marker has Mr. Trump name on it and the Statue of Liberty because he loves America," Mrs. Rone shared.Rone's mother noted a motorcycle group has pledged to donate a brick to the The Wall, if it gets built, in honor of her son. She also spoke about an emotional phone call she had with Trump where he said he would trade millions he owned if she could have her son back.His friend wrote Trump a letter to get his attention, and it worked.Riley Rone was a great young man. We will miss him dearly. pic.twitter.com/R0tm44nMao— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2016Barbara Zawistowski Rone: When Mr. Trump received the letter, he wrote us a very ... (RealClearPolitics)