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Obituary

UF English prof and prolific author Jim Haskins dies

GAINESVILLE - Jim Haskins, a University of Florida English professor and prolific author, who wrote a book that inspired creators of the 1984 movie The Cotton Club, died Wednesday in his Manhattan apartment. He was 63.

Family members said Mr. Haskins suffered from emphysema. He was on sabbatical when he died.

Mr. Haskins wrote more than 100 books, ranging from counting books for children to biographies on Rosa Parks, Stevie Wonder and Spike Lee. He was working on a book on Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame shortstop Ernie Banks.

The screenplay for The Cotton Club, about the famed Harlem speakeasy, was written by William Kennedy, Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. They said a 1977 picture book by Mr. Haskins with the same title was the inspiration of their story about 1928 gangsters and jilted love.

"He had a repertoire of books that told us of blacks in government, blacks in music, what education of black children was like," his friend and colleague, Irma McClaurin, an associate professor of anthropology, told the Gainesville Sun.

A native of Demopolis, Ala., Mr. Haskins grew up in Boston and attended college in Georgetown. His experience as a special education teacher in a Harlem public school led to his first book, Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher. He later worked as a stock trader, then taught in several New York colleges and at Indiana University before joining UF's English department in 1977. He was one of the founders of African-American studies at UF. He commuted between New York and Gainesville.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy Haskins of Manhattan; two daughters, Margaret Haskins of New York City and Elisa Haskins of Indiana, and a son, Michael Haskings of Washington.

[Last modified July 8, 2005, 01:01:05]