STEARN, Jess 1915(?)-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born c. 1915; died of congestive heart failure March 27, 2002, in Malibu, CA. Journalist and author. Stearn became well known for his many books on reincarnation and the occult. Having attended Syracuse University, he began his career as a reporter for the New York Daily News, where he was a journalist for seventeen years before joining Newsweek briefly as an associate editor. His early books, such as Sisters of the Night: The Startling Story of Prostitution in New York Today and The Sixth Man, were straight reportage on prostitution and homosexuality respectively. But Stearn then became interested in the occult, writing books like The Door to the Future and Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation before publishing his best-known books, the biographies The Sleeping Prophet: The Life and Work of Edgar Cayce and A Prophet in His Own Country: The Story of the Young Edgar Cayce. Through his interviews with psychic healer Cayce, Stearn became convinced that such things as reincarnation were possible. He continued to pursue this interest as a freelancer, writing many other books on the paranormal and the occult, including A Matter of Immortality: Dramatic Evidence of Survival, The Truth about Elvis, In Search of Taylor Caldwell, Elvis: His Spiritual Journey, and Soulmates.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, April 1, 2002, p. B9.

New York Times, April 2, 2002, p. A21.

Washington Post, April 2, 2002, p. B7.