John B. Putnam

1936 - 2018

John B. Putnam of Staten Island, N.Y., died Sunday, September 9, 2018. Jack was born July 2, 1936, in Boston, MA, to Philip Austin Putnam and Thelma Madeleine (Arthur) Putnam. He grew up in Belmont, MA, attending Belmont Hill School and graduating from Belmont High School. He was active in the Boy Scouts and the Belmont Dramatic Club. His treasured memories of childhood included hiking in the White Mountains with his father and the parades and fireworks occasioned by his birthday, although he eventually came to the disappointing realization that these were actually in celebration of the nations Independence Day. In 1958, he graduated from Harvard College, where he was a founding member of the Dudley House Drama Society and a member of the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps. Jack was then based at Naval Station Norfolk for active duty, where he served aboard submarines and the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge. After completing his active duty, Jack embarked on a peripatetic period during which he and his first wife, Dianne, and their infant daughter lived briefly in Belmont, then moved to New Jersey, where he worked as an editor at Princeton University Press. He left Princeton to spend eighteen months as editor at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, then moved to Evanston, IL, to serve as managing editor at Northwestern University Press. In 1971, when Jack was appointed executive director of the Association of American University Presses and president of AAUP Services in New York City, the family moved to Wilton, CT. During his time at Northwestern and AAUP, Jack traveled in developing countries in Africa and behind the Iron Curtain in support of emerging writers, experiences that informed his view of the world for the rest of his life. He also served in the Navy Reserve, eventually receiving an honorable discharge as lieutenant commander. During the 1970s, Jack earned his private pilots license, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Following his departure from AAUP, Jack found his true calling as a member of the South Street Seaport Museum community, where he served in many roles, including historian, educator, book store manager, model ship builder, Elderhostel coordinator/guide/lecturer. Jack called himself a storyteller. He was perhaps best known as Herman Melville, in whose guise he captivated audiences at the Seaport and at Mystic Seaport with his recitation from memory of Chapter 1: Loomings from Moby Dick. During his years at the Seaport, Jack made many transatlantic voyages on the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Queen Mary 2, serving as Elderhostel guide to the maritime history of New York and southern England. Jacks storytelling gifts extended to the written word. Among his many accomplishments were a chapter he wrote and illustrated on whaling and whalecraft for the 1967 Norton Critical Edition of Moby Dick, still included in the current (3 rd ) edition, and Voyage, an essay published in Boats: An Anthology, alongside pieces by E. Annie Proulx, Peter Matthiessen, Annie Dillard, Tim Cahill, and Raymond Carver. Jack was an accomplished painter and photographer, spending countless hours in what he called documentation of the activity in New York Harbor from the window of his home at Bay Street Landing. Throughout his life, he used his talents as an artist and craftsman to produce guitars, small boats, furniture, ship models, carvings, wood inlays, engravings, kites, and wonderfully terrifying Halloween costumes and jack-o-lanterns. Jack was a spiritual man, seeking solace in prayer and steadying himself through his faith during difficult times. He was a parishioner at Trinity Church Wall Street, where he served for many years as Friday lay reader. In his last months, Jack found joy and comfort in contemplating the woods from his window at the Brielle at Seaview, reading from the Bible, Merriam- Websters Dictionary of English Usage (appropriated from the Brielles library), and Robert Frost, and particularly in visits from his cherished friends and co-workers. Jack is survived by his wife, Saundra Smith, of Manhattan; his children Sara Putnam, of Woodstock, CT; Jennifer Putnam, of Newburyport, MA; and Nathaniel Putnam, of Bangor, ME; his daughter-in-law, Virginia Putnam, and grandchildren Samuel, Margaret and John Putnam, of Bangor; grandson James Holland, of Newburyport; sisters Janet Macdonald and her husband, Laurence, of Belmont; and Joyce Curll and her husband, Daniel, of East Alstead, NH; and several nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City on November 17. Donations in memory of Jack may be made to the South Street Seaport Museum by going to southstreet seaportmuseum.org and clicking donate.