Robert Sam Anson (March 12, 1945November 2, 2020) was an American journalist and author. He was noted for his work as a contributing editor to
''Vanity Fair'' for over 20 years. He also wrote for other American magazines such as ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...
'', ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
'', and ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''. He authored six nonfiction books, including ''Gone Crazy and Back Again: The Rise and Fall of the Rolling Stone Generation'', about
Jann Wenner
Jann Simon Wenner ( ; born January 7, 1946) is an American magazine magnate who is a co-founder of the popular culture magazine '' Rolling Stone'', and former owner of ''Men's Journal'' magazine. He participated in the Free Speech Movement whil ...
and his
magazine.
Early life
Anson was born in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...
, Ohio, on March 12, 1945. His mother, Virginia Rose, worked as a teacher. She raised him as a
single parent
A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wi ...
, together with her parents.
His grandfather, Sam B. Anson, was a notable personality in the city's journalism industry as editor and publisher of several local daily newspapers.
Anson graduated from
Saint Ignatius High School in 1963. He went on to study international relations and English at the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
, obtaining a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from that institution in 1967.
He spoke of
Theodore Hesburgh
Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC (May 25, 1917 – February 26, 2015) was a native of Syracuse, New York, who became an ordained priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and is best known for his service as the president of the University of N ...
, the president of Notre Dame at the time, as "the only father
eever had".
Anson started writing for
''Time'' during his studies and was consequently employed there full-time after graduation.
Career
Two years after graduating, Anson went to Vietnam and Cambodia to cover the Vietnam War for ''Time''. He was taken prisoner by
North Vietnamese
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
troops on August 3, 1970, and remained in captivity for three weeks. He avoided execution after convincing his captors that he was a journalist. He discovered 15 years later that Hesburgh called
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
, who purportedly appealed to the Cambodian authorities to secure Anson's release.
[ Anson subsequently wrote of his experience in ''War News: A Young Reporter in Indochina''.][
After being released, Anson relocated to the New York office of ''Time''. He was a product of the ]New Journalism
New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non- ...
, which embraced the notion that journalists ought to immerse themselves in what they wrote and utilize "dramatic literary devices" to create a more powerful narrative. One of Anson's earliest tasks there was to cover boxer Joe Frazier
Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011), nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. He was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure ...
. Fellow editor Chris Byron recounted how Anson got into the ring with Frazier, who promptly broke Anson's leg or dislocated his shoulder.[ Byron added how he "thought this guy nsonwas completely out of his mind".]
Anson also contributed to ''Esquire'', ''Life'', ''Mademoiselle'', ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', and '' New Times''. His 1981 ''Esquire'' cover story on Doug Kenney
Douglas Clark Francis Kenney (December 10, 1946 – August 27, 1980) was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film who co-founded the magazine ''National Lampoon'' in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its ...
, "The Life and Death of a Comic Genius," was the first major print remembrance of the ''National Lampoon'' humorist and screenwriter. Anson attempted to write about The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
in the early 1990s. However, his publisher, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...
, abruptly called off the project. He consequently sued the publishing company for $1 million, alleging that they had been pressured by superiors in the industry to abandon his book. The two parties eventually reached an out of court settlement
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...
.
Anson became editor of ''Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
'' magazine in 1995, but was fired after only five months in the position. During this time, all but two of the magazine's 19 contributing editors left the publication within two months. Several employees and the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' criticized Anson for being temperamental and sexist. Others came to his defense, seeing that his clash of personalities with a dull workplace environment would inevitably upset those who were there. Anson returned to the East Coast
East Coast may refer to:
Entertainment
* East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop
* "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017
* "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004
* East Coast FM, a radio station in Co. Wicklow, Ireland
* East Coast Swing, a f ...
, residing in Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor is an Administrative divisions of New York#Village, incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States, in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns of Southampton, Ne ...
at the East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
of Long Island. He did the majority of his writing in an Airstream
Airstream is an American brand of travel trailer ("caravan" in British English) easily recognized by the distinctive shape of its rounded and polished aluminum coachwork. This body shape dates back to the 1930s and is based on the Bowlus Road C ...
trailer (which he nicknamed "the Bambi"), situated at the back of his house.[ He maintained a blog called "About Editing and Writing."
Anson conducted an interview with Hesburgh in 2006. They discussed political and global issues, as well as their past interactions with each other. The interview was not published until after Hesburgh's death in 2015.][
]
Personal life
Anson married his first wife, Diane McAniff, in the late 1960s, after meeting at the University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
. They divorced shortly afterwards. His second marriage was to Sharon Haddock during the mid-1970s. He subsequently married Amanda Kay Kyser in 1985. They remained married until 2017. He had one son (Sam Gideon) and two daughters (Christian and Georgia Grace).[
Anson overcame a bout of cancer. He consequently became involved with the Visible Ink writing program at the ]Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute� ...
. He died on November 2, 2020, in Rexford, New York
Rexford is a hamlet in Saratoga County, New York, United States, located on the north bank of the Mohawk River. Rexford is in the Town of Clifton Park, near the southwestern town line. Its boundaries, like those of neighboring Alplaus, are unoff ...
, at age 75. He had been suffering from dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
in the time leading up to his death.[
]
Books
* ''McGovern: A Biography'' (1972). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston;
* ''"They've Killed the President!": The Search for the Murderers of John F. Kennedy'' (1975). New York: Bantam Books.
* ''Gone Crazy and Back Again: The Rise and Fall of the Rolling Stone Generation'' (1981). Garden City: Doubleday.
* ''Exile: The Unquiet Oblivion of Richard M. Nixon'' (1984). New York: Simon and Schuster.
* ''Best Intentions: The Education and Killing of Edmund Perry'' (1987). New York: Random House.
* ''War News: A Young Reporter in Indochina'' (1989). New York: Simon and Schuster;
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anson, Robert Sam
1945 births
2020 deaths
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American biographers
American male journalists
American people of Irish descent
American political writers
American Roman Catholics
American war correspondents of the Vietnam War
Deaths from dementia in New York (state)
Saint Ignatius High School (Cleveland) alumni
Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters alumni
Writers from Cleveland
American male biographers
20th-century American male writers