In Tribute

We humbly dedicate this issue of The Old Farmer’s Almanac to

John B. Pierce Jr.

1948–2008

July 4, 1948, was an auspicious day for John B. Pierce

Jr. He was born on that most American of holidays amid fireworks, flags waving, and festivities in Boston. Meanwhile, in Dublin, New Hampshire, this Almanac quietly cel- ebrated its 155th anniversary. No one, much less John, could have predicted how his future and that of this publication would merge and flourish.

Like this Almanac’s founder and first publisher, Robert B. Thomas, John grew up on a farm in New England. There, caring for cows and tending vegetable beds, he developed an abiding respect for nature, earth, and agriculture. (Years later, after houses took over the fields, he wrote: “It is the soil itself I miss the most. Soft, sandy loam that on hot summer days would puff between your toes like silk.”) At night, he too would study the Moon and stars and dream of bountiful harvests.

When college beckoned, John pursued his passions—plants and prose—at Dartmouth. In 1973, soon after graduating, he became an editorial assistant at Yankee Publishing, owner of this Almanac, and set forth on the path that would chart his life’s course.

His first assignment was to compile a collection of Yankee wit, wisdom, and

folklore known as “the sayings of the oracle.” These and other quirky facts and adages he liberally sprinkled into conversations ever thereafter.

John’s skill and talent were rewarded four years later when,

at age 29, he became managing editor of both Yankee Magazine and the Almanac. Under his direction for 14 years, Yankee received numerous national awards and the Almanac continued to thrive.

On the Almanac’s 200th anniversary, John became its 22nd publisher and frequent spokesman. His keen intellect, enthusiasm for its content, fertile imagination, and commitment to Mr. Thomas’s desire to be always “new, useful, and entertaining” inspired an array of successful companion publications, Web sites, and licensing opportunities—all of which earned him appointment as senior vice president and the company’s first group publisher.

Just as each edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac since 1792 has had its calculations “fitted” to a certain location, John himself was fitted to this publication and it to him. For more than half of his life, he was a dedicated guardian and guide— indeed, an oracle—of this Almanac. Light the fireworks, wave the flags: John, we salute you!