Sad news this morning: Barbara Branden, author of The Passion of Ayn Rand, has died at the age of 84. A close friend of Rand's for many years, she was a talented writer and an impressive human being in her own right. My girlfriend and I were fortunate enough to sit at her table at the closing banquet of one of The Atlas Society's annual conferences several years back. We were a little star struck at first, but Barbara quickly made us feel at ease.
No, she never tired of receiving praise for her biography of Rand. Yes, she would be delighted to read some of my writing if I would send her some links. (I did, and she was gracious enough to respond and offer encouragement.) It was a real gift, talking at length with this remarkable woman about Rand's life and philosophy and many other things besides. She asked us about ourselves and how we'd met, and was just generally warm and kind and keenly intelligent, as we had imagined her from her writing.
We met Barbara again a couple of times over the years, including at the 50th anniversary celebration of the publication of Atlas Shrugged, where she gave a very moving talk. Her well-balanced, objective book has helped many tens of thousands of people learn to better appreciate Ayn Rand as a human being, learn to value the work and the ideas for what they are without having to idolize, and hence dehumanize, the person. For her words and her wisdom, for her generosity and her heart, we mourn Barbara Branden's passing today.
We met Barbara again a couple of times over the years, including at the 50th anniversary celebration of the publication of Atlas Shrugged, where she gave a very moving talk. Her well-balanced, objective book has helped many tens of thousands of people learn to better appreciate Ayn Rand as a human being, learn to value the work and the ideas for what they are without having to idolize, and hence dehumanize, the person. For her words and her wisdom, for her generosity and her heart, we mourn Barbara Branden's passing today.