Karl Beckson - Personal

Personal

Born Emmanuel Beckson and raised in East Harlem and the Bronx, son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, he obtained his first library card at the 96th Street branch of the New York Public Library. In 1943, at age 17, he volunteered for the United States Navy, serving to yeoman 2nd class aboard the destroyer, USS Ross (DD-563), the only ship in U.S. naval history to survive two underwater mine explosions (Leyte Gulf, South Pacific). He was married since February 9, 1957 to Estelle Zimmerman with whom he had two sons, Mace and Eric.

Read more about this topic:  Karl Beckson

Famous quotes containing the word personal:

    “The ingrained idea that, because there is no king and they despise titles, the Americans are a free people is pathetically untrue.... There is a perpetual interference with personal liberty over there that would not be tolerated in England for a week.”
    —Margot Asquith (1864–1945)

    “Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.”
    —Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)

    “Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there.”
    —Judith Viorst (20th century)