Jack Zink, longtime critic and cultural affairs reporter who covered the arts in South Florida from 1969 until illness forced him to step away from the work he loved, died Monday at age 61.

Zink had continued working after a cancer diagnosis last November, covering theater, classical music and arts news for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, reluctantly taking a disability leave in late July.

Still, one of the hardest working men in showbiz journalism kept busy: advising the new leaders of the Carbonell Awards, the region's theater awards program he helped launch in 1976; working on the website for the condominium association he served as president and vice-president; staying connected to St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, where he had been senior warden; and, informally, providing information and story ideas to the newspaper where he had worked on and off since 1971.

Work, the arts, his family and old-fashioned get-the-scoop newspapering were Zink's lifelong passions.

Born John Charles Zink in Lorain, Ohio, Zink got his first journalism job at age 10 as a delivery boy for the Lorain Journal. Deciding in high school to become a journalist -- ''I figured I could get paid every week for writing,'' he said recently -- he found his career path when he got a 1968 internship at Ohio's Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.

''The city editor asked me if I knew anything about classical music,'' Zink recalled. ``I covered the grand opening of the Blossom Music Center, with George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony doing Beethoven's Ninth. When I went back to Ohio State University, I decided to become an arts writer.''

From the time he was hired as a reporter and arts editor for The Miami Herald's Broward County office fresh out of college, Zink chronicled the evolution of arts and entertainment in the region he referred to in print as the Gold Coast. Working for the Herald until 1971, then shifting to the Fort Lauderdale News until 1982, the Palm Beach Post from 1983-85 and then returning to the News/Sun-Sentinel, Zink reviewed and wrote about theater, classical music, movies, television, books, opera, nightclubs, arts politics and popular music. He also served as an arts editor and, for three decades, as the region's correspondent for the showbiz trade journals Variety and Daily Variety.

Tall and trim, Zink was equally at home wearing a tuxedo to put out last-minute production fires during 32 years of Carbonell Awards shows or getting grease on his clothes as he tinkered with motorcycles and cars, a skill he learned from his late father Charles. An aggressive reporter and critic, Zink was unafraid to step on toes in print: A steaming Robert Goulet once called Zink and promised to ``punch [his] lights out.''

During his long, influential career, Zink was twice honored with the Carbonells' George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts and with his newspaper's highest honor, the Fred Pettijohn Award.

Charlie Cinnamon, South Florida's veteran theater publicist, said of Zink, ``What a tremendous loss Jack's passing is to me as both a treasured friend and esteemed colleague. He was such a gentle man. It's so heartbreaking.''

''Jack has played such an important role in South Florida Theatre for so many decades that I can't imagine opening nights without him in the audience,'' said Joseph Adler, artistic director of GableStage. ``His reviews were insightful and well-written, and his enthusiasm was infectious when he saw something he liked. He will be sorely missed.''

Zink is survived by his wife Cynthia; daughters Derika Zink of Niceville, Fla., and Susan Fuguet of Minneapolis; stepson Vincent Marino of Winston-Salem, N.C., and stepdaughter Mary Marino of Bryson City, N.C.; brothers Patrick Zink, Edward Zink and Jeff Zink, and sisters Carol Bruening and Mary Ann Rivera.

A service for friends and family will be held 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, and plans for a public memorial are being made. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to St. Ambrose, 2250 SW 31st Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312, or to the Carbonell Awards, P.O. Box 14211, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33302-4211.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@