I first met Brian Doherty, the libertarian journalist, book author, movement historian, and senior editor of Reason magazine, when he interned at the Cato Institute in the early 1990s. At that time, I was Cato’s senior editor and intern supervisor. Brian and I instantly became friends. We remained close when his internship ended and he was hired as the managing editor of Cato’s Regulation magazine. We had lunch together often and spoke for hours about politics and cultural matters. We remained close until he moved to the West Coast to go to work for Reason. Brian had a huge interest in music and in producing recordings by alternative bands. It pleased me that when he was looking for a name for his record label, he chose “Cherry Smash.” He took the name from my favorite soda in those days.

It is so sad that Brian, 58, has died. The libertarian movement has suffered a great loss.