SURFING NEWS - John Severson, founder of Surfer Magazine, died peacefully in his sleep on Friday, May 26. He was 83.
John Severson is best remembered as the founder of Surfer, but before he was a publisher, John made his mark in surf movies, playing a major role in elevating the medium to new levels of action, humor and drama.
Born and raised in Pasadena and San Clemente, California, Severson was a creative type, an art major who dared to paint an abstract scene of the San Clemente Pier and beach, with bebop surfers and pointy little surfboards. It was the fall of 1955 -- a pivotal day for surf culture. You could say it was the start of surf art.
Severson had always been a multifaceted artist. He was a high school newspaper editor, hobby photographer, prolific painter, cartoonist and art teacher.
And when he found himself in the army, stationed in Hawaii, he made a surf movie. Between sessions on behalf of the army surf team, he filmed the North Shore and Makaha action of the winter of 1957-'58. This footage became his first film, Surf.
