I worked one summer in the file room at the Wade Park VA hospital.   Sad to say that I don't remember him at all--I was pretty bemused some years later to learn that one of my co-workers was famous.

His work is what inspired me to try my hand at cartooning. Too bad the cancer finally got him after a 20-year fight. His book, Our Cancer Year, is harrowing.

This is the best comprehensive obit out there for Pekar.