Waring Jones

Jones, Waring Waring Jones, a Twin Cities area writer, theatrical producer and supporter of the arts, died peacefully in his sleep last Thursday, January 10. He was 80 years old. The son of Carl Jones, publisher of the Minneapolis Journal (which eventually merged to become the Star Tribune) and grandson of Herschel Jones whose collection of prints and Old Master paintings is a cornerstone of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, he grew up in a creative environment which inspired him to pursue a life in theater. While serving in the Army in 1946, he became an announcer for Armed Forces Radio based in Hawaii, using one of the first ever long-range radio stations to broadcast to occupied Japan and throughout the Pacific. After graduating from Princeton University on the GI Bill, he was for several years the editor and publisher of the Hokah Chief newspaper, in southern Minnesota, before joining Academy Award-winning filmmaker Louis De Rochemont in New York to work on documentaries such as "Cinerama Holiday" and "The March of Time" series. He then joined HM Tennant, a theater production company in London, and was a co-producer of the first runs of several plays including "On Golden Pond," "Godspell," and "The Constant Wife," starring Ingrid Bergman. He subsequently returned to Wayzata, and became an energetic booster of Twin Cities theater, most notably the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis which was instrumental in nurturing the early careers of playwrights like August Wilson and Lee Blessing, Paula Vogel. The center also presented a number of his own plays, including "We." He remained an honorary member of the board and the center honored him by naming its main stage the "Waring Jones Theater." Like his father and grandfather before him, he had an especially keen eye for collecting rare books, manuscripts, and paintings, and his collection of 20th century literature and Scandinavian Impressionism were especially notable. His home became a gathering site for bibliophiles, scholars and writers from around the world. He eventually donated much of his extensive collection to found the Ernest Hemingway Museum in Oak Park, Illinois and the Jack London Library in the Waring Reading Room in Sonoma State University. He is survived by two sons, Henrik Jones (San Francisco, CA) and Finn-Olaf Jones (Los Angeles, CA), a daughter, Benedicte Hallowell (Brookline, MA), eight grandchildren, former wife, Yoyo Jones (Cambridge, MA) and former wife, Lucy Rosenberry Jones (Wayzata, MN). A memorial service will be held at Westminster Church, 1200 Marquette Avenue, Minneapolis at 3 pm Friday (TODAY), January 18. Any donations can be directed to the Playwrights' Center or Westminster Church. Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel 952-920-3996

Tributes

Waring Jones

January 18, 2008

Tributes

Waring Jones

January 18, 2008

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