John Lannan, 87, of Damariscotta, succumbed to Parkinson Dementia with Lewy Bodies June 25 after a long career as a newsman, editor and publisher in Maine, Colorado, Boston, New York, and Washington, DC.
He graduated from New England College in Henniker, N.H. and continued to obtain a master’s degree from Boston University and then won an international Sloan-Rockefeller Fellowship in Science Writing at Columbia University.
As a beginner Lannan worked briefly for the Manchester Union Leader and the Concord Monitor in Claremont and Concord, N.H. before joining the Associated Press in Augusta.
Lannan was an early specialist in science, technology, and medical reporting and covered most of the U.S. space program, including the moon landing, for the Boston Herald-Traveler and the Washington Star.
He later became an assistant to the President’s Science Advisor and subsequently filled the same role for the then president of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., the international research center founded by Dr. Jonas Salk and the March of Dimes Foundation. He then moved to Breckenridge, Col. where he was owner/publisher of the 100-year-old Summit County Journal. Under his management the paper won numerous awards including the best weekly of Colorado for three consecutive years. Also while in Colorado he taught at The School of Mines and the University of Denver.
Over the years Lannan was an active freelance writer for reference, trade, and technical journals. An avid skier and sailor, he was Washington editor for the then new SOUNDINGS magazine and, then later resettling in Maine, he edited the trade magazine Boating Digest and contributed to international engineering journals. He also became an instructor at the University of Southern Maine where he served as the faculty advisor of The Free Press, the student newspaper, for seven years before retirement.
He is survived by his wife, Emily Jean Lannan of Damariscotta; daughters, Leslie Lannan and partner Kevin Seebeck of Seattle, Wash., Alexandra Lannan of Brunswick; former son-in-law Bruce Boutet of Monmouth; son, Jon Lannan and wife Sandra Lannan of Somerville, Mass.; brothers, David “Barry” Lannan of Derry, N.H. and Florida, and William Lannan of Exeter, N.H.; and beloved dog, Tara.
There is no service planned.
In lieu of flowers remembrances may be made to The Clinic of Lewy Bodies Studies at Mass General Hospital in Boston c/o Department of Neurology, 15 Parkman St., Boston, MA 02114-3117.