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. He graduated from

Red Bank Regional High School Red Bank Regional High School (often abbreviated RBR) is a comprehensive regional four-year public high school and school district that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the boroughs of Little Silver, Red Bank and Shrewsbur ...

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. He graduated from Marlboro College in 1971 with a major in

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

and graduated from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

in 1974 with a degree in journalism.

Fox, Margalit Margalit Fox (born 1961) is an American writer. She began her career in publishing in the 1980s, before switching to journalism in the 1990s. She joined the obituary department of ''The New York Times'' in 2004, and authored over 1,400 obituarie ...

"Jonathan Maslow, 59, a Journalist and Naturalist, Dies"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 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."

Published works

His published works included ''The Owl Papers'', a 1983 book illustrated by

Leonard Baskin Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, draughtsman and graphic artist, as well as founder of the Gehenna Press (1942–2000). One of America's first fine arts presses, it went on to become "one of the most imp ...

(a cousin of Maslow's) about his search for a

short-eared owl The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or ...

in the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of ...

. 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 Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, while ''Sacred Horses: The Memoirs of a Turkmen Cowboy'', published in 1994, followed the

Akhal-Teke The Akhal-Teke ( or ; from Turkmen ''Ahalteke'', ) is a Turkmen horse breed. They have a reputation for speed and endurance, intelligence, and a distinctive metallic sheen. The shiny coat of the breed led to their nickname, "Golden Horses". ...

horse in present-day

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

. He also worked as a journalist at the ''

Cape May County Herald The ''Cape May County Herald'' is the flagship of the Herald family of community weekly newspapers and publications. Its offices are in Rio Grande census-designated place in Middle Township, New Jersey. - See also: Also identical in the 1990 U. ...

'' (based at the southern tip of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

) from 1997 to 2002 and then as an editor at the ''

Herald News The ''Herald News'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper headquartered in Woodland Park, New Jersey, that focuses on the Passaic County, New Jersey area. Today's ''Herald News'' is descended from several papers, but did not come to be until two Pas ...

'' (in the state's north). 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''. He wrote ''The Last Lector'', a play based on a story from his 1996 book ''The Torrid Zone; Seven Stories From the Gulf Coast''.

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 The Darién Gap (, , es, Tapón del Darién , ) is a geographic region between the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest, and mountains in Panama's Darién Province and the norther ...

in the production entitled "A Tramp in the Darien.""The Natural World, BBC Two England, 3 December 1989"
/ref>

Personal life

A resident of the Dennisville section of

Dennis Township, New Jersey Dennis Township is a township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The township's population as of the 2020 United States census was 6,285, a drop of 182 from the 2010 Cens ...

and the Passaic Park neighborhood of

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...

, Maslow died of cancer at the age of 59 on February 19, 2008, in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

. He was survived by his third wife, Liliya Khobotkova.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maslow, Jonathan 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Marlboro College alumni People from Dennis Township, New Jersey Writers from Long Branch, New Jersey People from Passaic, New Jersey Red Bank Regional High School alumni 1948 births 2008 deaths American nature writers American male non-fiction writers