John I. Boslough

BOSLOUGH JOHN IRVAN BOSLOUGH June 18, 1942 - May 4, 2010 John Irvan Boslough, author, former Denver Post reporter and much-traveled freelance writer, died at his home in Snowmass Village on Tuesday May 4, 2010 with his closest family and friends by his side. John, 67, was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer eight months ago. He is survived by his wife, Susan; his two daughters, Sophie, 17, and Jill; son-in-law, Jack and grandchildren. Damon, Drew, and Olivia; his brother, Jim and wife, Jeanie; children, Rebecca, Jameson, and Hayden; his sister-in-law, Carol, and her daughters, Ariel and Kyla; in-laws, Ray and May Raehn and brother in-law, Paul and wife, Linda. John and Susan were married on September 23, 1989 in McLean, VA. Later in 1993, their daughter Sophie was born. They permanently moved to Aspen, CO in 2003. John was born on June 18, 1942, in Charlotte, NC to Milton and Katherine Boslough. They later moved to Denver, CO. Growing up, John rose to the Eagle Scout level in Boy Scout Troop 28. He was a star athlete at East High School in Denver and set a state long-jump record in track and field in 1960. John was a graduate of Princeton University 1967, earning honors. John began his newspaper career as the sports editor at the Mountain Mail in Salida, CO where he became editor. He returned to Denver with the Associated Press. He moved to the Denver Post in 1973 to become a reporter. He won countless awards. The Post moved John to Washington, D.C. to head their bureau in the late seventies. He left the Post to become science editor at U.S. News & World Report. After several years at U.S. News, he began a freelance journalism career, writing five books about issues in the sciences and contributing articles to numerous publications, including the Washington Post, National Geographic, Psychology Today, Smithsonian Magazine, Science 81, and Reader''s Digest. John wrote "Beyond the Black Hole -- Stephan Hawking''s Universe," a 1985 biography of the famed scientist that was an international bestseller. He authored "Masters of Time -- Cosmology at the End of Innocence" and "The Very First Light -- The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the University" with astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner, John C. Mather. As a writer and explorer, John traveled to every continent, except South America. National Geographic sent Boslough to China in the early eighties. He was one of the first Western writers to visit and write about the mainland. He relished skiing and climbing Colorado''s mountains. He reached the peaks of 32 of the state''s 54 mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation. John rode numerous times in the Denver Post''s Ride the Rockies annual bicycle tour around Colorado. He climbed The Matterhorn in Switzerland, a winter climb of the Grand Teton in Wyoming, and Mount McKinley in Alaska. A memorial service for family and friends will be this summer, June 26 on the back of Aspen Mountain to coincide with the summer jazz festival. John''s memory lies within the hearts of the many lives he touched.