When it comes to obituaries of quirky people, the NYT can knock ’em out of the park. This is a wonderful remembrance of the guy who created the iconic “We are happy to serve you” Greek coffee cup design that adorns this very blog. Had no idea he was a Jew and a Holocaust survivor. Who am I kidding — I had no idea that cup had a designer at all. I thought it sprang fully formed from silver food carts, like Athena from Zeus’s head.

I chose that cup as an icon for my blog because it is so quintessentially NYC, because it seemed fitting for a ghostwriter and women’s magazine writer (my job is to deliver, unglamorously, and to provide excellent and semi-self-negating service with a smile), and because I really love coffee. I have a tattoo of a diner coffee cup. The old-school white china kind with the green rim around the top and matching saucer, not the take-out kind. But Mr. Buck’s design would make a superb tattoo as well. Where was I? Right. I’m sorry for Mr Buck’s family, and may the Anthora live forever. (ANTHORA! Not amphora. So excellent.) It’s a really, really wonderful icon.

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