People Remembered: Jay Colton

Jay Colton

Jay Colton, 57, a longtime Time photo editor and photographer who judged OPC photo contests, died the weekend of October 9 in Brazil while attending a photographic festival. His younger brother James, a Sports Illustrated photo editor, said his brother apparently suffered a massive heart attack or stroke.

Colton began his career as a photo editor at Gamma Liaison. In 1981, he became associate picture editor of Money, and in 1989 he joined Time.

“It was almost as if he was lit from within,” recalls Jim Kelly, who was editor of Time magazine while Colton was there. “His manner was so peaceful and serene, he just created a very comfortable environment in which to look at the pictures he was showing you and to persuade you why this picture is better than that picture, and why this picture would work for the readers in a way that this other one really didn’t.”

Colton retired from Time in 2007 and worked on his own photography.

OPC Executive Director Sonya Fry said, “He was always helpful to me during the OPC awards competition in which he judged the photo entries.”

Colton’s father, Sandy Colton, who died in 2008, was a Stars & Stripes writer and photographer during the Korean War and later worked for the Washington Star and AP. His mother was a longtime art director at People magazine.