Former editor of `Field and Stream' wrote 23 books

A pioneer and legend in the field of outdoor writing has died.

Jack Samson, prolific author and the former editor of Field and Stream magazine, died Sunday at his home in Santa Fe from complications related to Alzheimer's disease, a day before what would have been his 85th birthday.

The award-winning author of 23 books and countless magazine articles was also a decorated veteran of World War II as a member of the Flying Tigers, and he worked as a war correspondent for United Press International during the Korean War and as a reporter for the Associated Press.

Hunters and anglers across the country grew up reading Samson's stories in Field and Stream and other outdoor magazines. His books revolutionized the sport of fly-fishing, showing anglers how to catch ocean fish on fly patterns.

In a word, Samson was ``fascinating,'' said his friend and fishing partner, Jeff Bowen.

``He'd been everywhere, done about everything.''

John ``Jack'' G. Samson was born in Providence, R.I., in 1922. As a boy, he suffered from severe asthma, so his family moved West in 1930 to the arid climes of Santa Fe, where his health improved. Growing up in New Mexico, he developed a love of the outdoors and completed his schooling in the East at Greenbrier Military Academy in Lewisburg, W.Va.

Samson served in World War II in China as a navigator on a B-24 bomber with the 14th Army Air Force, better known as the Flying Tigers. He flew 52 combat missions, and many years later, in 2004, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, according to an online biography published by the Outdoor Writers Association of America.
After the war, he attended The University of New Mexico and graduated in 1949 with a degree in journalism. He sold his first outdoors story to Field and Stream that year for $75.
Samson was then hired by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish as the agency's first public relations officer. While there, one of Samson's duties was handling promotions for Smokey Bear, a cub that had been orphaned by a forest fire in Southern New Mexico and went on to become the Forest Service icon for forest fire prevention.

Samson returned to Asia, where he worked briefly in public relations for an airline, but one night he ``had too many drinks at a Tokyo lounge'' and accepted a job as a reporter for UPI to cover the Korean War, Samson told ESPNOutdoors.com writer Craig Springer in a 2002 interview.

``I thought I wanted to be a war correspondent. I guess I read too much Hemingway,'' Samson said. ``Three bourbons later I woke up in GI clothes flying over Seoul with a hangover and a big pay cut.''

After the Korean War, Samson went to work as a reporter for the Associated Press in Albuquerque, where he also began writing a regular outdoors column for the AP. In 1960, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard University.

In 1970, he moved to New York City and became managing editor of Field and Stream. Two years later, he became editor-in-chief, a position he held for 13 years.

During that time, he traveled the world and wrote 16 books. Many were groundbreaking works on saltwater fly fishing. He holds the fly-rod world record for roosterfish and was the first known fly fisherman in the world to catch Atlantic sailfish, Pacific sailfish and all five species of marlin on a fly. His favorite pursuit was fly fishing for permit, a tricky gamefish of the Yucatan, and he wrote two books on the subject.

Samson also authored books about bears, hunting and falconry, and in 1979, he wrote Successful Outdoor Writing. He was a biographer, too, penning the life stories of legendary fly fisherman Lee Wulff, naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton and Maj. Gen. Claire Lee Chenault, the founder of the Flying Tigers.

He retired from Field and Stream in 1985 and returned to Santa Fe with his wife, Victoria.

Over the next several years, Samson wrote more books and served as fly-fishing editor for Marlin magazine, saltwater editor for Fly, Rod & Reel magazine and saltwater editor of Fly Fishing & Tying Journal. He also innovated a well-known saltwater fly pattern called Samson' s Fighting Crab. In 1996, the International Game Fish Association honored Samson with a conservation award for a story he wrote on pollution in Florida Bay.

He wrote his final book, Fly Fishing for Permit, in 2003, the 23rd title of his prolific career.

``He was an icon. Legend is often overused, but in this case it's entirely appropriate,'' said Springer, an outdoor writer and hunting friend of Samson's.

Samson was outgoing and friendly -- a straight talker who told you what he thought and often had a wisecrack to go with it.

``He was humorous and plain-spoken. You didn't have to guess how he felt about something,'' Springer said.

Despite living a life of world travel, adventure and literary success, Samson didn't talk much about himself, said his friend and fishing companion, Chuck Rizuto. ``He was a special person,'' said Rizuto, who owns a fly shop on Samson's favorite trout stream, the San Juan River near Farmington.

What Samson loved to talk about the most was fly fishing. He let Rizuto give out his home phone number to the fly shop's customers so anyone could call him if they had a question about saltwater fly fishing.

``He would do that for anybody. All they had to do was ask,'' Rizuto said. ``That's something. That's special.''

The two met in the 1980s when Samson hired Rizuto as a guide on the San Juan River. He watched in awe as Samson reeled in more than 20 trout longer than 20 inches that first afternoon.

``No one's ever done that since,'' Rizuto said. ``I didn't know there were that many fish in one spot.''

On maps of the San Juan River today, that fishing spot is called Jack's Hole, after Samson.

``His passion was fly fishing and his love of saltwater fly fishing,'' Rizuto said.

In Santa Fe, Samson was a regular customer at Tiny's Restaurant and Lounge, where he'd ``hold court'' with friends, Bowen said. And Samson had tons of friends -- in Santa Fe and all over the world.

``Everywhere we'd go, people knew Jack. People really looked up to him. He was quite a guy,'' Bowen said.

Samson is survived by his wife, Victoria; sister, Charlotte; and sons John, Donald and James.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at McGee Memorial Chapel, 1320 Luisa St., with burial at 11 a.m. at Santa Fe Veterans National Cemetery.

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