A Knot Between Every Word

I received a phone call tonight that Steve Barcus has passed on.

Steve was a creative director at Roska for many years. Those of you who knew him will never forget him. For those of you who did not know him, I’ll share a small bit of who Steve Barcus was.

A creative genius, a husband and father, a true friend to many.

Steve loved nature and he loved to fish. I have stood with him on a Nantucket beach casting all night into the surf to catch a big Striper. And during that night I heard great fishing stories of when he and his friend stacked the Stripers like cordwood, 20, 30 40 pounders. Based on those stories, I now understand how the Stripers were put on the endangered species list for many years. It was because Steve was personally responsible for almost wiping them out.
I have fished for Bone Fish in the Bahamas with Steve and for giant Bass in the mountains of Mexico. And every time he caught a fish, I remember the excitement and joy he exuded, like a 12 year old who has caught his first fish. He loved the sun. He was bald and would rub his head with Wesson oil and fish all day in the sun. “Steve”, I would plead, “put your hat on.” He would put his hat on and when I turned around, he would take it off again. “Steve, put your hat on.” I would say again. “I swear to God that your head is starting to smoke, it smells like bacon frying.” “Yeah”, he would say, “isn’t it wonderful!”

Steve was one of the most creative people I have ever met. He could craft the written word to touch the very core of your emotions. Words that made you laugh or cry or want to buy whatever he was writing about. Steve was the master of creating the special moment.
Steve was the kind of writer that you had to rip the copy from his hands before he would stop writing. He was never satisfied. When we were telling him it was the best copy we had ever read, he would change a word and make it better.
Steve once told me that great copy was like a string of expensive pearls. When a jeweler makes an expensive pearl necklace, he puts a knot between every pearl. “That”, he said, “is how copy must be written; with a knot between every word.”

Steve, you were a special person, you lived your life to the full, and put a knot between every moment.

Jon