Jonathan Evan Maslow (August 4, 1948 – February 19, 2008) was an American journalist and author who wrote extensively about nature, with a focus on obscure and little-known animals.

Early life

Maslow was born on August 4, 1948, in Long Branch, New Jersey.[1] He graduated from Red Bank Regional High School in 1966 and has an annual college scholarship funded by members of his graduating class that is awarded in his memory to a graduate of the school attending college.[2] He graduated from Marlboro College in 1971 with a major in American literature and graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1974 with a degree in journalism.[1]

Published works

His published works included The Owl Papers, a 1983 book illustrated by Leonard Baskin (a cousin of Maslow's) about his search for a short-eared owl in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Perpetuating his theme of tracing unusual animals, his 1986 book, Bird of Life, Bird of Death: A Naturalist’s Journey Through a Land of Political Turmoil, followed the quetzal bird in Guatemala, while Sacred Horses: The Memoirs of a Turkmen Cowboy, published in 1994, followed the Akhal-Teke horse in present-day Turkmenistan. He also worked as a journalist at the Cape May County Herald (based at the southern tip of New Jersey) from 1997 to 2002 and then as an editor at the Herald News (in the state's north).[1] Maslow was honored in 2001 by the New Jersey Press Association for "Towers in Service - The $14M Question," a piece he wrote for the Cape May County Herald Times.[3] He wrote The Last Lector, a play based on a story from his 1996 book The Torrid Zone; Seven Stories From the Gulf Coast.[4][5]

Film and television

Maslow hosted an episode of the BBC's Natural World series in 1989, taking viewers on a journey through the Darién Gap in the production entitled "A Tramp in the Darien."[6]

Personal life

A resident of the Dennisville section of Dennis Township, New Jersey and the Passaic Park neighborhood of Passaic, Maslow died of cancer at the age of 59 on February 19, 2008, in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was survived by his third wife, Liliya Khobotkova.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Fox, Margalit. "Jonathan Maslow, 59, a Journalist and Naturalist, Dies", The New York Times, February 24, 2008. Accessed October 16, 2017. "Jonathan Maslow, a journalist and naturalist whose travels took him from the rain forests of Central America to the steppes of Central Asia, died on Tuesday in Greenwich, Conn. He was 59 and lived in Dennisville and Passaic Park, N.J."
  2. ^ "The Jonathan Maslow Scholarship Fund Accepting 2016 Applications", Community Foundation of New Jersey, February 16, 2016. Accessed October 16, 2017. "The Community Foundation of New Jersey today announced that The Jonathan Maslow Scholarship, which it administers on behalf of members of the Red Bank Regional High School (RBRHS) Class of 1966, is accepting applications for the Fall 2016 term."
  3. ^ Better Newspaper Contest - 2001 Editorial Results for Weeklies, New Jersey Press Association. Accessed October 16, 2017. "W-03 Enterprise Weekly, under 4,500 First Place - Jonathan Maslow, Cape May County Herald Times - 'Towers in Service - The $14M Question'"
  4. ^ Campbell, Al. "Former Herald Reporter Jonathan E. Maslow, 59", Cape May County Herald, February 21, 2008. Accessed October 16, 2017. "A play The Last Lector was written by Maslow and adapted by the late Michael Laird, artistic director of Cape May Stage and played in that resort city for several weeks. It was a drama set in a cigar factory in Tampa, Fla. and was taken from a story in Torrid Zone, Maslow’s first fictional work."
  5. ^ Larson, Susan. "Stormy Weather", The New York Times, May 5, 1996. Accessed October 16, 2017.
  6. ^ "The Natural World, BBC Two England, 3 December 1989"
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