Film critic Roger Ebert recalls Royko as a friend and guide to Chicago.

New Year's Day of 1967 brought a blizzard to Chicago, and bynightfall, the city was socked in. I was one of the few peopleworking in the Sun-Times city room that night. At the other end ofthe building, the Daily News was dark, except for a light in MikeRoyko's corner. At the coffee machine, he asked me how I was gettinghome. I said I didn't know. He said he had borrowed hisfather-in-law's Checker and would give me a lift.

I was a kid still working part-time. Mike was already the topcolumnist in town. He looked right at home behind the wheel of aChecker. He was in his 30s, but looked older; he was one of thoseguys like Robert Mitchum who always looked about 50, no matter …