I am first cousins with Jaqueline who was married to Samson for 41 years and was her rock. and I met Samson in 1977’
  I was absolutely floored by his work and I come from an artistic family. His women were so a live and incredibly sexy and attention to detail was meticulous.
   I was a 9/11 responder who documented the recovery effort for long periods of time with my camera. When my book came out Samson was supportive and said my photographs were great. And made me feel so good to get his validation.
    Samsons work will live on with paintings, books and exhibitions...
  RIP Samson 

The last time I spoke with Sam, he said, “I think I approach everything the way I approach my art: If I can't do it, do it again. Throw it away and start over. I'm pretty stubborn; I don't give up so easily. I think that's an important part of it, to stick with it. It's so easy to quit on something. You can't get it right, or you think it won't be accepted, so you avoid facing it. That's fear. There are people who live with fear, and that's not good.” When I asked if he considered himself a confident person, he chuckled. “It's been interpreted more as stubborn.”

Sam was a groundbreaking and prolific artist and visual storyteller. But even that magnificent career was only part of his own story. “I always had all kinds of hobbies,” he told me. “I loved to ice skate; I used to do that quite a bit. Chess, I used to love. I actually played a rated expert and came out even with him. I was deep into computers at one time. I built my own printing press. I built everything in my studio by myself—the hardware, everything. I always had to have some kind of challenge. And I managed to squeeze it all in, some way.”

Though I have been a fan of Samson Pollen's artwork for many years, I didn't get a chance to get to know him personally until a couple of years before he passed, when I called him to ask if I could publish a book featuring his classic men's adventure magazine art. I was elated when he said yes. In fact, Sam was very enthusiastic about the project and spent hours talking with me and my co-editor Wyatt Doyle about his life and career. Those calls with Sam made he realize what a smart, sweet and beautiful man he was, in addition to being a great artist. When the book (POLLEN'S WOMEN: THE ART OF SAMSON POLLEN) was published in early 2018, I was extremely happy that Sam loved it. I'm also glad that, before he passed, he got to see a proof copy of the second book featuring his artwork we'll be publishing soon and loved that, too.  I am grateful to have known Sam, and honored to be able to help keep his artistic legacy alive in our books. My heart goes out to his wife Jackie. Like Sam, she is one of the sweetest people I've ever met.
- Bob Deis

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Samson Pollen

March 19, 1931 – December 4, 2018

Riverside Memorial Chapel

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