He was an economist by training but that is not what made him great. What made him so was his ability to convey complicated economic – and moral – ideas in easy-to-understand terms.

Which made him a great writer. Which is to say, a great communicator.

I knew Walter, a little.

When I worked on the editorial page staff of The Washington Times in the late Cretaceous period – the early-mid 1990s – I spoke with him occasionally as The Times regularly carried his syndicated column. Walter was always friendly and more than that, took the time to chat with a young unknown who admired his work. I am also a graduate of the university where he taught – George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia – so we had that in common, too.