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Florida Sportsman's Vic Dunaway Passes
http://www.floridasportsman.com/2012/05/17/florida-sportsmans-vic-dunaway-makes-last-cast/
Vic Dunaway, an institution in the outdoors journalism world, passed away May 17, still active and sharp witted to the end. He was 81.
Dunaway died peacefully of heart failure at an Ocala hospice facility.
A founding editor of Florida Sportsman in 1969, he also wrote and edited numerous books and had been a highly respected writer and television contributor nationally.
“Vic was the ultimate combination of talents and skills and demonstrated a unique ability to both know how to get the most out of the outdoors and then convey that material to his readers with wit and clarity,” said FS Founder Karl Wickstrom at the magazine’s headquarters in Stuart.
Dunaway’s popular Waterfront View column was a mainstay in Florida Sportsman through last year and he wrote dozens of articles after transitioning his life to Inglis and the Dunnellon area in the ‘90s, returning to the waters and woods of the Central Florida he loved.
“It’s inconceivable that he is gone,” Wickstrom said, “though Vic understood the ways of life and endings and he was at peace. He lives on in the foundations he laid, including the expanded digital enhancements of the Florida Sporstman network.”
“Vic’s guiding spirit is with us all the time,” added FS Publisher Blair Wickstrom.
Victor Alan Dunaway was born Oct. 10, 1929, in Fort Myers, Florida, where he may have been tying fishing knots in the delivery room. He was a journalism graduate of Florida State University and worked for several newspapers before becoming the widely read outdoors editor of The Miami Herald through the ‘60s, prior to the launch of Florida Sportsman.
He is survived by his daughter Mari, two sons, David and Dan, and granddaughter Victoria, whom Mari named after Vic and much loved by him.
Vic asked that his ashes be spread off Cape Sable in the Everglades and that there be no formal service other than a gathering of family which is planned.
Vic Dunaway, an institution in the outdoors journalism world, passed away May 17, still active and sharp witted to the end. He was 81.
Dunaway died peacefully of heart failure at an Ocala hospice facility.
A founding editor of Florida Sportsman in 1969, he also wrote and edited numerous books and had been a highly respected writer and television contributor nationally.
“Vic was the ultimate combination of talents and skills and demonstrated a unique ability to both know how to get the most out of the outdoors and then convey that material to his readers with wit and clarity,” said FS Founder Karl Wickstrom at the magazine’s headquarters in Stuart.
Dunaway’s popular Waterfront View column was a mainstay in Florida Sportsman through last year and he wrote dozens of articles after transitioning his life to Inglis and the Dunnellon area in the ‘90s, returning to the waters and woods of the Central Florida he loved.
“It’s inconceivable that he is gone,” Wickstrom said, “though Vic understood the ways of life and endings and he was at peace. He lives on in the foundations he laid, including the expanded digital enhancements of the Florida Sporstman network.”
“Vic’s guiding spirit is with us all the time,” added FS Publisher Blair Wickstrom.
Victor Alan Dunaway was born Oct. 10, 1929, in Fort Myers, Florida, where he may have been tying fishing knots in the delivery room. He was a journalism graduate of Florida State University and worked for several newspapers before becoming the widely read outdoors editor of The Miami Herald through the ‘60s, prior to the launch of Florida Sportsman.
He is survived by his daughter Mari, two sons, David and Dan, and granddaughter Victoria, whom Mari named after Vic and much loved by him.
Vic asked that his ashes be spread off Cape Sable in the Everglades and that there be no formal service other than a gathering of family which is planned.
Replies
RIP, Vic.
Now the point to this story is, and I promise there is one, is that the following sunday (3 days after Pop got home) I was talking to my Mom and somehow we got on the subject of why Dad never answered the phone when I called the hospital. She really didn't have an answer for that, but said "...well vince is a nice enough man and he gave your dad the messages you called." I said yes he was and she mentioned that he and dad talked about what they did over their lives and family stuff while they were in the room together. She told me that he told Pop that he was a magazine writer for about 30 years and wrote about fishing until his recent retirement. I asked mom "was his name Vince or Vic?" She, of course says " it could have been Vic...I think his last name was Dunleavy..." I said to mom "was his name Vic Dunaway?" She said "yes...that's it...Vic Dunaway" and I then explained to her who he was.
Now not to violate HIPPA here, but mom said he didn't look good when they were discharged and he had a lot of family coming to see him. I will remember my interaction with him, as short as it was, as a man of class who just wanted to go fishing one more time.
RIP Vic. Your efforts and hard work brought all of us together here today.
Peter
Nice story atty551, and don't worry about any HIPPA violations - those laws only apply to health care professionals. Families of patients, e.g., have no restrictions on what they can report about their hospital experience.
Sad year for the fishing community
Atty, you hit the nail on the head in describing Vic, "class." Class is what Vic Dunaway will always be to me. He was pretty much always the best angler on the boat, by that I mean he'd catch the most fish, but you'd never feel bad about it, he made it seem like it was just by chance that day...but after doing it ten out of ten times, all the while never making you feel lesser or inferior, now that's class. No bragging just good nature humor. Vic will always be remembered for his limitless jokes, but what will live on probably beyond the even limitless boundaries of the worldwide web will be the fishing knowledge that he's past on to hundreds of thousands through his books, columns and articles. Through Vic's book, Bait Rigs & Tackle alone he's probably taught over a million people the uni-knot system, the single best fishing knot, and that's just one of his knots or rigs that will be past down from generation to generation. This is how Vic will live on, by families passing down the love of fishing. Thank You Vic.
My thoughts exactly
RIP Vic. I hope you're enjoying a red hot bite and endless supply of Vienna Sausages.
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This. I wish I had an opportunity to get the red book autographed.
X2... R.I.P. Jose and Vic. You both will be missed greatly.
Me too. Might be the first book I ever bought and paid for with my own money (not countin' comic books).
RIP Vic
:angel
Rob
Hero's Don't Wear Capes....They Wear Dog Tags.