Thank You, Ed Asner

“If someone can pound it into your gourd of a head…”.

If that doesn’t sound like the way Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore show would have started a sentence…what does??

Ed Asner’s iconic role of the crusty, tough but soft-on-the-inside news man resonates in his interview with Jean. Talking about forgiveness and his desire that we “just let it go” is so perfect for the times we are living through. 

Besides all his acting accolades (he won seven Emmy awards!), Ed Asner has done so much to help others. He was incredibly politically active as the president of the Screen Actors Guild. He served on the Board of Directors for the Survivor Mitzvah Project, which aids elderly Holocaust survivors, he was a member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which protects the free speech of comic book writers and retailers, was on the board of Defenders of Wildlife and was on the advisory board of Exceptional Minds, the non-profit school for young adults on the autism spectrum. 

In November 2017, The Ed Asner Family Center was founded by Asner’s son, Matt Asner and daughter-in-law Navah Paskowitz Asner. insidewink highlighted the Center in an interview with Matt. According to their website, “The Ed Asner Family Center is a one-stop shop for neurodivergent individuals and their families seeking wholeness in all attitudes of life. The Center acts as an oasis of balance and thought, of interaction and education. Most importantly, The Center gives children and adults of all levels of ability a chance at dignity, confidence, and self-respect.” Read Jean’s interview about the Ed Asner Family Center below.

Thank you, Ed… for your compassion, your service, your talent and your dedication… along with all the laughs you gave us. You will be missed.