My friend's beautiful column on his friend, the late Budd Schulberg

http://www.newsday.com/columnists/wallace-matthews/to-the-end-budd-schulberg-was-a-man-s-man-1.1351654
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The Closest I Came to Meeting Budd Schulberg

A couple of years ago, one of my best friends invited me to a New Year's party at his home on Long Island, saying out of nowhere "Budd Schulberg might be there." I said, "Are you kidding me? THE Budd Schulberg? He's one of my heroes. 'What Makes Sammy Run' is one of my all-time favorite books." My friend, a former boxing writer, much to my surprise, knew Schulberg well enough to invite him to a private party. "But he's pretty old and not feeling well these days," my friend said. "So I'm not sure if he'll make it or not." Well, it ended up he didn't. And I must confess that I was crushed. I don't know what I would've said to him. I probably would've gushed something about how much I loved What Makes Sammy Run or how great a movie On the Waterfront was. But just to meet him, even once, I know, would've been so memorable for me.

Budd Schulberg Tribute

Budd Schulberg Dies at 95

Budd Schulberg, "On the Waterfront" Screenwriter, Dies at 95
By Anahad O'Connor
New York Times

Budd Schulberg, the legendary screenwriter and novelist who won an Oscar for his classic 1954 film “On the Waterfront,” has died. He was 95.

Mr. Schulberg, the son of a movie executive born in New York, rose to fame in the 40’s and 50’s with a succession of award-winning books and screenplays, most notably his novels “What Makes Sammy Run” (1941) and “The Harder They Fall” (1947), and the film “A Face in the Crowd” (1957). But it was “On the Waterfront” that Mr. Schulberg was best known for. The film, starring a young Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint, nearly swept the 1954 Academy Awards, earning eight Oscars, including one for Best Picture and another for Best Actor, which went to Mr. Brando. The film was so influential that it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Mr. Schulberg lived in Westhampton Beach on Long Island and is survived by his wife, Betsy, and five children.