I have long said that before I fell in love with journalism, I fell in love with journalists.

It started at my college newspaper at Eastern Illinois University, where I walked in as a freshman and asked for a writing assignment and immediately, happily, found a kind and merry band of misfits, pranksters, contrarians, question-askers, fact-finders and, eventually, lifelong friends.

One of them was Maggie Bieritz, one of those people who radiates joy and wit. We both moved around after college and stayed in touch mostly through social media, where I had the honor of watching her dote on her twin brother, Mike, her favorite person in the universe.

Maggie and Mike were the youngest of six children, and Mike was born with cerebral palsy. He lived at home until 2017 when their dad, widowed for 13 years, died on his 88th birthday. At that point, Mike went to live in a supportive living facility.

Photos of Mike — often in a Chicago Cubs hat and always with the world’s greatest smile — hanging with his sisters became some of my favorite posts. When Maggie moved back to the Chicago area from South Carolina last year, the photos became more frequent.

In June, Mike died at age 59 from aspiration........

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