With a heavy heart, I have to tell you that after a long battle with cancer my husband Kevin Drum passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025.
No public memorial services are planned.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice.
A Facebook page, 'In Memory of Kevin Drum', has been created as a place for friends and family to share memories of Kevin. I encourage you to post your thoughts and memories there.
Thank you to all the wonderful blog readers who supported, encouraged and challenged him through the years.
He will be greatly missed.
Marian
I am sad to hear that Kevin has died. In my view, he has been just about the most valuable contributor to public discourse over the last twenty years or so. His research and analysis have always been top notch. I will miss him very much.
This is Kevin's sister, Karen, aka Lady Mary aka Inkblot's Aunt. I didn't get to be part of this final post but I wanted to say this. I'm very sentimental, and for a final post I wondered how to really sum up my brother's accomplishments and what a special guy he was, but it turns out an old British friend of mine did it best when she heard the news:
"But, what a life! You must all be so proud. All those thoughtful clever political posts, with their little touch of wry humour, written until just a few days back. I’ll miss these dearly too; a voice of sanity in the present mad maelstrom. To have soldiered on for ten years after that devastating cancer diagnosis was more than heroic too, and to achieve so much in this time."
Thanks to all of you for being loyal readers.
I know you as Inkblot's Aunt, and you and your mom have been on my heart along with Kevin and Marian these last several weeks. A lot of people are mourning with you all, and I hope you feel the love and support of Kevin's many faithful readers.
Dear Marian,
So sorry to hear this news and my thoughts and love are with you. Kevin has been a beacon of clarity and honesty in an increasingly insane world, and I and so many will miss him dearly.
We only met once, when you graciously invited me to watch the 2016 election returns since I was in Irvine that day.
Not a great moment for any of us or the country, but you both provided the warmth and company I needed.
I am so very sorry to read this. Kevin provided the best content and analysis I've ever found. His influence was widespread and deep. I hope you find comfort in knowing how many people admired him. I'm grateful for the many years of insight he provided to me.
I'm so sorry for your loss. He contributed so much.
This thread by Clara Jeffery (from MJ) contains an assortment of her favorite articles by Kevin and some of her own remembrances:
https://bsky.app/profile/clarajeffery.bsky.social/post/3lk2avszahk2q
I don’t have the words except to say, Thank you, Mr. Drum.
Hey Bebopman, This is Kevin's sister Karen and I've always loved reading your posts. I'll miss everyone.
I'm so very saddened to hear of Kevin's passing. I've been reading his words from way back in his CalPundit days, through Washington Monthly and Mother Jones up until now. I even caught him live at a convention many years ago. He's always been a voice of reason and sanity, even when I didn't exactly agree with all of his opinions. He will be sorely missed.
I’m very sorry to read this. He’s been a regular part of my day for over 15 years. His insight, wisdom and wit will be sorely missed in these crazy times.
My heart goes out to Marian and all those who knew him.
Terrible news. Marian, I hope you can take some comfort in his great impact over the years.
Really sorry to hear that. Been reading his work for 20+ years. Will miss his voice. Condolences to you and your family.
My deepest condolences in this difficult time. Kevin was respected by all, and we all appreciate the work he did.
I am crushed. I have been reading Kevin since the original blogging era really got big in the Bush years. He provided many years of sensible liberal content and I will miss him greatly.
Marian, you and your family are in our thoughts.
A great analyst and a great man has passed. Kevin epitomized the importance and power of critical thinking. I will miss him very much.
And because there was so often a political dimension to his thinking, let me add this. If there was any justice in the world, divine or otherwise, there are many who should’ve preceded him off this mortal coil. Starting with every member of His Imperial Majesty’s administration.
Marian, Hilbert, Charlie: My sincerest condolences at this moment of emptiness in your lives. Rest easy somehow we will continue Kevin's work informing the rest of the universe that things are what they are not what they seem.
Condolences and best wishes to you.
Marian --
I'm another 20 year reader. My condolences on your loss.
So very sorry, Marian. Been following Kevin for a very long time, as have many of his readers. He will be deeply missed. Comfort to you, along with the cats, of course.
I am so sorry to hear this. Condolences to you Marian, and to all of us, for this loss.
RIP Mr. Drum. Your words generated the best comments section ever. God speed.
Pokeybob
Words I feared to read. My hopes are Marian and the rest of us get through this. And for Kevin, continue the fight. Against cancer and against the current regime.
Kevin was one of the first bloggers I followed back in the day, and continued to be one of the best reads on the internet. To the very end, he was a fearless reporter of facts. The world is less for his passing. May his memory be a blessing.
Hopefully they have some great charting tools in the hereafter to keep Kevin occupied.
I have lived a better informed and more enjoyed life because of Mr. Drum. We all have.
Thank you.
❤️❤️
I'm so sorry -- I read Kevin's blogging pretty much daily since the Iraq War was kicking off, and found his intelligence, rigor, and sense of what's right and what's wrong immensely valuable. He had a significant impact on how I understand the world (because of him I'm one of the many many people who harangues everyone they meet about the lead-crime link), and seeing him fight cancer, explaining it and graphing it the whole time, was a real comfort to me when my sister had her own cancer diagnosis.
Condolences to you and the rest of your family; he'll be missed by many because he touched so many.
My condolences. Kevin was a class act and I followed him for a long time. I'll miss him more than I'd miss a lot of people I actually know
A Bussokusekika of KD
A shadow's echo
Through silence I heard your voice
A vacant space now
These memories still linger
Shall we converse for a while?
Though you are gone KD, your words and photos have shaped my own thoughts and beliefs. Yes, lead and crime have a causal relationship, always use real instead of nominal, and damn that Fox News! For your indelible mark left behind, thank you. And thank you Marian, for allowing us to share this grief with you.
That is beautiful -- thank you.
My heart is too heavy for words.
This is Kevin's sister, Karen, aka Lady Mary aka Inkblot's Aunt. I didn't get to be part of this final post but I wanted to say this. I'm very sentimental, and for a final post I wondered how to really sum up my brother's accomplishments and what a special guy he was, but it turns out an old British friend of mine did it best when she heard the news:
"But, what a life! You must all be so proud. All those thoughtful clever political posts, with their little touch of wry humour, written until just a few days back. I’ll miss these dearly too; a voice of sanity in the present mad maelstrom. To have soldiered on for ten years after that devastating cancer diagnosis was more than heroic too, and to achieve so much in this time."
Thanks to all of you for being loyal readers.
Thank you so much. I'm a loyal reader and poster here. As it happens my wife died 7 months ago and I'm still in the clutches of grief and sadness. I will miss reading Kevin's thoughtful posts and his spectacular astrophotography. I have room in my heart for this loss, and it really hurts right now.
Your friend's words echo our thoughts. Thank you for posting. So very sorry for your loss.
Thank you, Marian, for giving us this news, heavy though it is. You can add my tears to the rainstorm, which like all storms will diminish.
While we are all sad that he has died, we can be glad that he lived.
Best wishes to all.
So sorry to read this, Marian. My condolences on your loss.
At the risk of being presumptuous, let me say that I feel his death personally. When writing a post, or when doing a bit of work, one feels one should have done it earlier, so that Kevin could have seen it.
In addition to his substantive writing, at one point, perhaps around 2018-19, Kevin's lunchtime photo of the day became important to me. For reasons I don't really understand, I would right-click each photo and then save it on my laptop or phone.
One feels that Kevin still had a lot of life in him. One feels sorrow and resentment at a life cut short, that he will not be able to live for more years, and to see where those years will take him.
At the moment, I happen to be reading John le Carré's book of letters, edited by his son Tim Cornwell. Like Kevin, he was born on October 19. Like Kevin, he fought cancer, and died of pneumonia. Unlike Kevin, he got to live to age 89.
In a speech le Carré gave in early 2020, he asked one of the questions of our time:
"One day somebody will explain to me why it is that, at a time when science has never been wiser, or the truth more stark, or human knowledge more available, populists and liars are in such pressing demand."
For many of us, we looked to Kevin to explain the hard stuff to us: politics, astronomy, the lead-crime hypothesis, cats. Often, though not always, he succeeded.
At the risk of being even more presumptuous . . . let me say that even though Kevin was famously not a religious person, I am. I do have hopes of another world.
Again, my condolences.
❤️❤️
I followed Kevin across three sites. I relied on his charts and shared them on Facebook. So sorry he lost his fight.