{{short description|American painter}}
'''Irving "Speed" Vogel''' (March 3, 1918 – April 14, 2008) was an American sculptor, painter, and co-author, along with Joseph Heller, of the best-selling<ref name="nytimes">[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/books/18vogel.html "Speed Vogel, Author's Aide, Dies at 90"] – ''The New York Times''</ref> memoir, ''No Laughing Matter''.
He was born in New York City and was the fourth of five children of his father Julius, who was a builder. He was educated at West Virginia University and attended pre-med classes at New York University but, with the beginning of World War II, started working as a shipbuilder. Vogel started his own textile business, Ria Herlinger Fabrics, with his first wife. Later, he became a furniture producer and left this business at a relatively early age when he retired. After retirement, he dedicated himself to painting and sculpting.<ref>James Robert Parish, "It's Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks", published by John Wiley & Sons, 2008, p.124-125</ref>
A textile businessman and associate of Gwathmey Siegel, he was also a member of the "Gourmet Club," an assemblage of writers, artists and show business people (which included Mel Brooks and Mario Puzo, among others), who gathered weekly from the 1960s to the 1980s to eat and talk at Chinese restaurants in New York City.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/09/30/obituaries/30goodman.html |title=Obituaries – Image |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 30, 2011 |access-date=2022-06-14}}</ref>
In the 1960s, Vogel met Joseph Heller, best known for his novel ''Catch-22'', and they became good friends. In 1982, Heller was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, which provokes paralysis. Vogel moved into Heller's house to help him recover. They alternatively wrote the chapters in their best-seller ''No Laughing Matter'', which was published in 1986. The book was on the ''New York Times'' best-seller list for four weeks.<ref name="nytimes1">[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/books/18vogel.html/ Speed Vogel, Author's Aide, Dies at 90 by BRUCE WEBERAPRIL 18, 2008] Retrieved on 1 Mar 2018</ref>
He had five children from his three marriages. Vogel died of natural causes at his home in Sag Harbor, New York. He was 90.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130201092431/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS163311+18-Apr-2008+PRN20080418 "Speed Vogel Obituary"] – ''Reuters''</ref><ref name="nytimes1"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vogel, Speed}} Category:1918 births Category:2008 deaths Category:People from Sag Harbor, New York Category:20th-century American painters Category:20th-century American memoirists Category:Memoirists from New York (state) Category:Painters from New York City Category:Writers from New York City Category:Sculptors from New York City Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American male painters Category:American male sculptors Category:West Virginia University alumni Category:21st-century American male artists
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