Jack Bass

Jack Solomon Bass (June 24, 1934 – April 23, 2026) was an American author and journalist.

Early life Bass was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on June 24, 1934, to Nathan and Esther (Cohen) Bass and grew up in the town of North as the youngest of seven children.

He served in the U.S. Navy, attending officer's candidate school in Newport, Rhode Island. He served for three years at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, California, as well as in the Philippines.

Career When Bass resigned from the Navy, he and his family moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he began his work as a professional journalist. He worked at The News and Courier (Charleston), a co-owned weekly paper, The West Ashley Journal, and The State (Columbia).

From 1966 to 1973 Bass worked as the Columbia Bureau Chief for The Charlotte Observer as well as a part-time lecturer for journalism at the University of South Carolina. Bass taught at a number of universities including the University of Mississippi and the College of Charleston.

He was named South Carolina Newspaperman of the Year in 1968 and 1972. His The Transformation of Southern Politics was on the American Library Association's "Notable Books for Adults List" for 1976, and he received a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for "Taming the Storm" in 1994.

Personal life and death Bass had three children by his first wife Carolyn McClung Smoak. He had seven grandchildren. His second marriage was to Alice Cabaniss, but they divorced.