Greg Reeves, RIP

There weren't many highlights in the Kansas City Star's past two decades that Greg Reeves wasn't a part of. As our computer-assisted reporting genius on the projects desk, Reeves was part of Pulitzer and Polk award-winning stories. More recently, he and I were comrades as well as colleagues when he began the newsroom's first in-house blog, the wildly successful (and Eppy award-winning) Crime Scene KC.

We all gathered, friends and family, at the City Tavern a few weeks ago to say goodbye to Greg. He was leaving the Star; more gravely, he was showing unmistakable signs of advanced ALS, the disease he inherited from his father, who had died of it. Funny thing about that get-together: It was just the kind of wake you'd want to attend after your own passing. The room was packed, the spirit was warm and convivial, and nobody wanted to leave. Everyone took a turn sitting next to Greg at the table in the center of the room, where his arms hung limp by his side and he drank with a straw but otherwise seemed like the same old Greg. He called me the professor, like he always did, and told me he was checking TV Barn regularly. A score of Star and Times alumni flew in from around the country to reminisce and to have what everyone suspected would be a final chance to enjoy Greg's company.

But it's much sadder today.

I didn't have a nickname for Greg Reeves like he did for me. He was just the man.