Jeff Baena Is Gone, but the Creative Family He Nurtured Lives On

I could never put into words what Jeff Baena meant to those of us who called him a friend—and I probably shouldn’t even try. I was a visitor in Jeff’s life and in his home. Other people lived much closer to him, literally and otherwise. I live in New York. Jeff hated New York. Even when he was here, he wouldn’t venture far. You saw Jeff at Jeff’s house, but it wasn’t a place where he lived—Jeff’s house was a social nexus that existed wherever he happened to be.

Jeff is gone…