On Wednesday, March 23, Michael Dawson, proprietor of Dawson’s Books (located for many decades at 535 N. Larchmont Blvd.) posted to friends on Facebook that on March 22, his uncle, Glen Dawson, passed away at “103 years, 7 months” of age. Â Glen and Michael’s father, Muir Dawson, were partners for 50 years at Dawson’s Books, which was started by their father, Earnest Dawson.
According to Glen Dawson’s Wikipedia biography:
Glen Dawson was born on June 3, 1912, and was an avid mountain climber and outdoorsman. Â He began climbing with his father, and conquered the Matterhorn in 1928, at the age of 16. Â He continued climbing for many decades, and served in WWII as a climbing and skiing instructor in Colorado and Italy.
Dawson also joined the Sierra Club at an early age (not surprising for someone with a brother named after Sierra Club founder John Muir), and served as its president from 1934-37 and as a director from 1938-51. Â At the time of his death, he’d been a member for 94 years, the longest tenure on record.
After World War II, Glen spent half a century at Dawson’s Books, where – in addition to selling books – he also published more than 370 collectible books, including miniatures.Â
Among many other honors, Dawson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Azusa Pacific University in 2009, for his accomplishments as a rare book expert, publisher and mountaineer.
As Michael Dawson said in his Facebook post, “Farewell, Glen, you will be missed by many.”
