Jack Samson, magazine editor

SANTA FE -- Jack Samson, a longtime editor of Field & Stream magazine, died Sunday at his home in Santa Fe.

Mr. Samson would have turned 85 on Monday, said a friend and fishing buddy, Jeff Bowen.

Mr. Samson, born John G. Samson in Providence in 1922, spent much of his life in Santa Fe. He first came to the city at age 8 to recover from asthma, and grew up there in the 1930s, Bowen said.

He served in World War II as an Army Air Corps navigator aboard a B-24 bomber over China.

A friend, John Catsis, wrote in a 2005 article for the Outdoor Writers Association of America that during the war Mr. Samson formed a friendship with Major General Claire Chennault of Flying Tigers fame, a friendship initiated in part by a mutual love for fishing.

Mr. Samson eventually wrote a biography of Chennault.

He covered the Korean War for United Press International, and he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 1960.

Mr. Samson joined Field & Stream in 1970 as managing editor. He became editor in chief in 1972 and traveled the world for the magazine.

He retired in 1985.