Through conversation and rainy walks around West Chop, Art Buchwald, William Styron and Mike Wallace — dubbed The Blues Brothers — battled depression together.
And then the three men, each luminaries in their field — Mr. Buchwald, a humorist, Mr. Styron, a novelist, and Mr. Wallace, a journalist — took their struggle with mental illness public, using their talents and fame to lessen the stigma of depression and other illnesses.
In the memory of three well-known Vineyard residents who struggled with depression, a special fund has been established through Martha’s Vineyard Community Services to support mental health counseling services.
Called the Blues Brothers Fund, the fund honors humorist Art Buchwald, novelist William Styron, and journalist Mike Wallace, and is meant to raise money and awareness for those struggling with mental illnesses.
Mike Wallace was laid to rest Tuesday in a simple ceremony at the West Chop Cemetery attended by close friends and family. The popular CBS newsman, a longtime Island summer resident, died on April 7 at the age of 93.
Editor’s Note: Mike Wallace wrote the following piece for Peter Simon’s book On the Vineyard II, published in 1990. It appears here with permission. Mr. Wallace died on April 7 at the age of 93.
Something extraordinary happens each time I leave my “real” life in New York city and arrive at home in Vineyard Haven. All the magic of my schoolboy excursions to the Vineyard comes flooding back, all the early memories.
Mike Wallace, the CBS newsman who was a household name across America and a longtime summer resident of the Vineyard, died on April 7 at the age of 93. The familiar television anchorman for the CBS Sunday evening show 60 Minutes was also a familiar figure on the Island, where he had visited since boyhood and later owned a home on Hatch Road in Vineyard Haven. The house was sold late last year after Mr. Wallace’s health had declined to the point where he no longer came here.
The Vineyard Haven home of retired 60 Minutes anchor Mike Wallace was sold early last month for $7 million.
The buyer is former Virginia governor and current commonwealth Sen. Mark Warner. Mr. Warner’s name does not appear on the real estate transaction but the trustee who handled the sale for the buyer is Nicholas D. Perrins, who worked for the Virginia Democrat in the private sector before he was elected governor.
