Jack Williamson died peacefully on Friday, November 10, at his home in Portales, New Mexico, at the age of 98. The numbers barely hint at one of the most astounding careers in our field, and a life ranging literally from covered wagons to computers. He didn't just coexist with those things: he used them in everyday life.
Jack was born on April 29, 1908, in an adobe hut near the mining town of Bisbee, in the territory that had not yet become the state of Arizona. His family moved at least once to Mexico and at least once by covered wagon, eventually winding up as homesteaders in Pep, New Mexico. He had little opportunity for formal education, but read voraciously, finding a particular fascination in the pulp magazines. In 1928 he became part of them, with his first story, "The Metal Man," appearing in the December 1928 Amazing.
That marked the beginning of a career that included professional publications in nine decades. His first story in Astounding (as Analog was then known) was in March 1931, in the second year of the magazine's history, and he appeared here in eight decades. That would be remarkable enough in itself, but he didn't just persist; he continued to grow and adapt to changing times. He had a "slow" period in the 1950s and ‘60s, which he overcame by collaborating with such notables as James Gunn and Frederick Pohl, and then came back up to full power, producing memorable new work almost until the end. His July 1947 novelette "With Folded Hands..." grew into the 1949 novel The Humanoids, which remains a chilling cautionary tale more relevant now than ever. His novella "The Ultimate Earth" (published here in 2001) won both Hugo and Nebula awards, and his last novel, The Stonehenge Gate, was serialized here just a couple of years ago. In 1976 he became the second recipient of the Grandmaster Nebula awarded by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
In addition to being an important producer of science fiction, he was a key pioneer in gaining academic respect for the field. In the late 1940s he earned degrees from Eastern New Mexico University (in Portales) and the University of Colorado. He taught at ENMU until he "retired" in 1977, but he retained a very active connection with the university (a library there is named for him), and throughout that period was extremely helpful to teachers all over in introducing science fiction to curricula.
His wife, Blanche, died years before him, but he is survived by a brother, a stepdaughter, five stepgrandchildren, and an enormous literary family who will miss him very much.
