Jay Kay Klein
(July 28, 1931--May 13, 2012)
For half a century, Jay Kay Klein captured fannish personalities and events in tens of thousands of photographs. His first contact with fandom came in 1945, when he joined the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. Soon after, he began contributing to fanzines, including a review column in Science Fiction Times. In 1960 he published the first of fine Convention Annuals, a portfolio of hundreds of photos from Worldcon. His other work appeared in numerous fanzines and professional publications. For almost 30 years (1977-2005), he supplied the pictures and text for Analog's "biolog" feature. He was also a regular contributor to Locus.
Aside from photography, Jay Kay was a member of the unsuccessful Syracuse Worldcon bids for 1966 and 1967, served as toastmaster at several conventions, published a handful of stories (one in If, two in Analog), and occasionally presented slide shows on the theme of "The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody". Asked for photo ID at MagiCon (1992), he pulled out a picture of himself sitting on a panel with Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.
He was Fan GoH at Discon II (1974)
Before his death, he donated his collection of over 65,000 negatives to the University of California's Riverside Libraries Eaton Collection of SF & Fantasy. Calisphere displays nearly 6,000 of Jay Kay's photos online.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1974 -- Discon II
- 1975 -- Anonycon 1
- 1977 -- Conebulus 1977
- 1984 -- Onocon '84
- 1990 -- Big Heart Award
- 1997 -- Astronomicon 6
- 2011 -- First Fandom Hall of Fame
| Person | 1931—2012 |
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