James K. Page Jr. ’58

Jake died Feb. 10, 2016, at his home in Lyons, Colo. A graduate of the Gunnery (Conn.) School, he majored in English and ate at Campus Club, where he served as its president his senior year. His senior-year roommates were Dave Leeming, Jim Millinger, Pete Chamberlain, Buzz Peeler, Bon Lombardi,and Bruce Bradley.

After receiving his master’s degree in book publishing from NYU, he joined Doubleday and for 20 years edited science books and magazines with the Natural History Press, Natural History Magazine, and Smithsonian Magazine. He strove, through a monthly column, to make the Smithsonian Magazine more appealing to the general public. His articles dealt with earthquakes, dinosaurs, zoos, and, in the 1980s, the history and culture of the American Indian.

Jake and his wife, Susanne, traveled more than 20 times to the Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi asked her to document the tribe, permitting photographs for the first time since 1910. In order to spend more time on this project, Jake retired from the Smithsonian Magazine. Drawing on his experience with the Hopi, he began a new career as a mystery writer. He wrote five novels featuring the blind sculptor Mo Bowdre and his half-Hopi girlfriend, Connie Barnes.

To his wife, six daughters, and his numerous grandchildren, the class offers its sympathy.