Jack Louis August, Jr., 63, passed away on January 20, 2017. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1975, a master’s degree from University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in history from the University of New Mexico in 1984. He served the State of Arizona as State Historian and Director of Institutional Advancement at the Arizona Capital Museum in the Division of Library, Archives and Public Records under the Secretary of State. In addition to joining the Secretary of State's staff, August was a visiting scholar in legal history at the law firm of Snell and Wilmer. He was a former executive director at the Arizona Historical Foundation at ASU, a Fulbright scholar and a National Endowment for the Humanities research fellow. He also taught both graduates and undergraduates and served in administrative roles at the University of Arizona, University of Houston, ASU and at Prescott College. Jack was a regular contributor to the Arizona Republic and appeared periodically on Horizon and on radio shows on NPR and KJZZ to discuss the political, historical or literary topics of the day. Since 2007 he served as the Scholar in Residence for the Southwest Center for History and Public Policy, a non-profit and non-partisan 501 c 3 corporation. August authored 10 books and was a Pulitzer Prize nominee in history. Many of his books focused on Arizona history, including a biography of former Gov. Raul Castro and U.S. Sen. Carl Hayden. He'd also been working on a biography of his friend, former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington. Jack is survived by his wife, Kathy Flower August, his son, three grandchildren, his mother, three brothers, four stepchildren and a sister. He was preceded in death by his father and a brother. Funeral Mass will be held Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the St. Francis-Xavier Church, 4715 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona. (Sources: Phoenix New Times, Arizona Republic)