WTF, Zac?!

Zac Crain leaves us. Dammit.

July 18, 2024

Zac Crain with his son Isaac. Zac Crain

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Zac Crain, author, senior editor at D Magazine, former music editor for the Dallas Observer and one-time mayoral candidate, died Tuesday at the age of 50.

No disrespect is intended with that headline. He was — and it hurts to write in past tense here — an amazingly smart, wonderfully kind and incredibly talented writer and editor. He was also one of the most wickedly funny people I've had the joy to work with, so I hope he would appreciate the headline, though he would have written a better one. (I was never quite sure whether his 2007 run for mayor was performance art. He played things close to the vest. But he knew and loved this city and would have made a fine mayor. Or more appropriately, Zac Crain would have made a great fucking mayor.)

We wrote about him a couple of times after he broke hearts here and went to work at an airline magazine before joining D Magazine. Jim Schutze did a column about his foray into politics in 2006. In 2021 Tyler Hicks wrote about his book, I See You Big German — "an open letter from Crain to retired Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki that is as much about the author and [his son] Isaac as it is about basketball."

But Tim Rogers, editor of D Magazine, summed it up best in the magazine's obit, which just went online and which you should definitely read: "Absolutely everyone who knew him will now lead a lesser life with Zac no longer in it. That includes the people he roasted."

Our sincere condolences go out to our colleagues at D, Zac's family and his many, many friends.

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Patrick Williams is editor-in-chief of the Dallas Observer. Before joining the staff in July 1997, Patrick worked for the Southern Illinoisan, Amarillo Globe News and San Antonio Express-News. As editor-in-chief, he oversees the newsroom and guides the coverage of both the Dallas Observer’s printed publication and online website.

Contact: Patrick Williams