Jack Sanborn Reeder of Winchester, Va., died on November 2 after a short hospitalization. He was 87.

Jack was born in Washington, D.C., to Fred William and Cynthia (Ruth) Sanborn Reeder. He grew up in Lorton, Va., and graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1953.

He earned degrees in music from American University in 1957 and 1959. On August 15, 1959, he began a 53-year marriage to Carolyn 0. Reeder, who also studied music at American University. They lived in Greenbelt, Md. and Northwest Washington, D.C., where they raised two children, and later moved to Glen Echo, Md.

As a child, Jack rode on his father’s shoulders during walks in the woods; his mother encouraged him to play the piano and he became an accomplished pianist. Both his love of the outdoors and for music stayed with him throughout his life, but he pursued a career in graphic design and editing, working for American University, founding a typesetting business, and serving as editor of Army Times and as both editor and publisher of The Construction Specifier, where he spent the last 15 years of his career. Jack spent many weekends hiking and camping with family and friends in Shenandoah National Park (SNP). The ruins of homes discovered while traipsing across the park’s mountains and hollows led Jack and Carolyn to publish three books about the park and the people who resided there prior to its founding.

Jack was an active member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club for decades and served five years as its president. When he wasn’t hiking, he and Carolyn helped maintain trails in the park, leading a team of trail maintenance volunteers. He was also appointed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park Commission.

Jack was preceded in death by wife Carolyn and brother Wallace Cookson. He is survived by son David (Andrea Laine) and David’s two children, daughter Linda (Christopher Anderson), nephew Arthur Cookson, and Jill LeTourneau, his partner of eleven years.

A memorial service for Jack will be held at the Omps Funeral Home on Amherst St. in Winchester at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 18.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club or Shenandoah National Park.