ST. LOUIS (AP) - Jerry Berger, a society columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for many years, has died.
The Post-Dispatch reported that Berger died Tuesday at a hospital in Coral Springs, Florida, he was 87. His husband, Victor Isart, told the newspaper that after surviving several bouts with cancer in the past decade, Berger’s health declined after he recently broke his leg in a fall.
Berger served as a columnist for more than a quarter of a century, the place where readers turned to for gossip. The newspaper said he famously told stories on — and got tips from — politicians, the rich and famous, even notorious gangsters.
Berger, who was born in and grew up in St. Louis, defined gossip as, “That which runs ahead of news all wrapped up in satin ribbons.”
He began as a columnist at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1978 and left it just before it folded in 1984, moving to the Post-Dispatch.
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