Virginia Kraft Payson

Virginia Kraft Payson (February 19, 1930 – January 9, 2023) was an American thoroughbred owner and breeder, big-game hunter, and journalist. She wrote for Sports Illustrated under the name of Virginia Kraft for 26 years, starting with its first issue in 1954 when she was the only female on the writing staff. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Siena College.

As a thoroughbred horse owner and breeder Kraft Payson raced Carr De Naskra, who won the 1984 Travers Stakes, and also owned multiple Group 1 winner St. Jovite. She operated the Payson Stud breeding operation in Kentucky, and had owned the Payson Park Thoroughbred Training Center in Florida until it was purchased by Peter Brant in 2019.

Kraft Payson was married four times. She had four children in her first marriage to Robert Dean Grimm. In December 1977 she married Charles Shipman Payson, who was the majority owner of the New York Mets at the time. In the late 1970s he bid on a yearling at auction, which introduced Kraft Payson to the sport of thoroughbred horse racing.

Kraft Payson had suffered from Parkinson's disease in the late stages of her life. She died at her Payson Stud farm in Lexington, Kentucky, on January 9, 2023, at the age of 92.