Hugh Ambrose, a writer whose best-selling World War II history, “The Pacific,” was the companion volume to the Emmy Award-winning HBO mini-series of the same name, died on Saturday in Helena, Mont. He was 48. The cause was cancer, his sister Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs said.
A son of the popular historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the younger Mr. Ambrose began his career as a researcher on his father’s books, including “Band of Brothers,” the blockbuster that followed members of the 101st Airborne through the European theater. That book was adapted as an HBO mini-series in 2001.
Father and son had begun work on “The Pacific” together; after Stephen Ambrose’s death from cancer in 2002, Hugh assumed authorship of the book and served as the historical consultant on the television series. Published by New American Library, “The Pacific” chronicles the region’s major battles — including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa — through the lives of five United States servicemen.
The 10-part mini-series, broadcast in 2010 and starring Joe Mazzello, James Badge Dale and Jon Seda, offered a fictionalized rendition of those events. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were executive producers, as they had been on “Band of Brothers.” “The Pacific” won eight Emmys, including the award for outstanding mini-series.
Hugh Alexander Ambrose was born on Aug. 12, 1966, in Baltimore, one of three children that his mother, the former Moira Buckley, brought to her marriage to Stephen Ambrose in 1968. Mr. Ambrose adopted all three children, and the family settled in New Orleans.
After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Montana, Hugh Ambrose went to work for his father, researching “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” (1996) and other books. For the World War II histories, he scoured archives, visited battlegrounds and interviewed a spate of veterans.
“I don’t know where he finds these guys,” Stephen Ambrose, speaking of his son, told The New York Times in 2002. “Then he gets on the phone with them for three or four hours, and that stuff is gold to me.”
In the same interview, Stephen Ambrose, who had weathered public accusations of plagiarism for insufficiently identifying passages from other writers that were used in his own work, said his son had no involvement with the disputed material. Hugh Ambrose, a former vice president of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, was also the historical consultant on “Price for Peace,” a 2002 documentary about the Pacific theater produced by Stephen Ambrose and Mr. Spielberg.
Besides his sister Ms. Tubbs, Mr. Ambrose’s survivors include his wife, the former Andrea Loiacano; two brothers, Barry and Andrew; another sister, Grace Ambrose-Zaken; a son, Brody; and a daughter, Elizabeth. At his death, he was a resident of Helena.
In an interview with The Wisconsin State Journal in 2012, Hugh Ambrose recalled the day his father asked him to become his research partner, and the irresistible inducement the older man held out to him.
“There was a pause and he said the magic words ... I’ll pay you,” Mr. Ambrose said. “And of course I said yes.”
--Obituary from the New York Times
Contributor: MMMGM (41124409)
A son of the popular historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the younger Mr. Ambrose began his career as a researcher on his father’s books, including “Band of Brothers,” the blockbuster that followed members of the 101st Airborne through the European theater. That book was adapted as an HBO mini-series in 2001.
Father and son had begun work on “The Pacific” together; after Stephen Ambrose’s death from cancer in 2002, Hugh assumed authorship of the book and served as the historical consultant on the television series. Published by New American Library, “The Pacific” chronicles the region’s major battles — including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa — through the lives of five United States servicemen.
The 10-part mini-series, broadcast in 2010 and starring Joe Mazzello, James Badge Dale and Jon Seda, offered a fictionalized rendition of those events. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were executive producers, as they had been on “Band of Brothers.” “The Pacific” won eight Emmys, including the award for outstanding mini-series.
Hugh Alexander Ambrose was born on Aug. 12, 1966, in Baltimore, one of three children that his mother, the former Moira Buckley, brought to her marriage to Stephen Ambrose in 1968. Mr. Ambrose adopted all three children, and the family settled in New Orleans.
After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Montana, Hugh Ambrose went to work for his father, researching “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” (1996) and other books. For the World War II histories, he scoured archives, visited battlegrounds and interviewed a spate of veterans.
“I don’t know where he finds these guys,” Stephen Ambrose, speaking of his son, told The New York Times in 2002. “Then he gets on the phone with them for three or four hours, and that stuff is gold to me.”
In the same interview, Stephen Ambrose, who had weathered public accusations of plagiarism for insufficiently identifying passages from other writers that were used in his own work, said his son had no involvement with the disputed material. Hugh Ambrose, a former vice president of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, was also the historical consultant on “Price for Peace,” a 2002 documentary about the Pacific theater produced by Stephen Ambrose and Mr. Spielberg.
Besides his sister Ms. Tubbs, Mr. Ambrose’s survivors include his wife, the former Andrea Loiacano; two brothers, Barry and Andrew; another sister, Grace Ambrose-Zaken; a son, Brody; and a daughter, Elizabeth. At his death, he was a resident of Helena.
In an interview with The Wisconsin State Journal in 2012, Hugh Ambrose recalled the day his father asked him to become his research partner, and the irresistible inducement the older man held out to him.
“There was a pause and he said the magic words ... I’ll pay you,” Mr. Ambrose said. “And of course I said yes.”
--Obituary from the New York Times
Contributor: MMMGM (41124409)
Hugh Ambrose, a writer whose best-selling World War II history, “The Pacific,” was the companion volume to the Emmy Award-winning HBO mini-series of the same name, died on Saturday in Helena, Mont. He was 48. The cause was cancer, his sister Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs said.
A son of the popular historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the younger Mr. Ambrose began his career as a researcher on his father’s books, including “Band of Brothers,” the blockbuster that followed members of the 101st Airborne through the European theater. That book was adapted as an HBO mini-series in 2001.
Father and son had begun work on “The Pacific” together; after Stephen Ambrose’s death from cancer in 2002, Hugh assumed authorship of the book and served as the historical consultant on the television series. Published by New American Library, “The Pacific” chronicles the region’s major battles — including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa — through the lives of five United States servicemen.
The 10-part mini-series, broadcast in 2010 and starring Joe Mazzello, James Badge Dale and Jon Seda, offered a fictionalized rendition of those events. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were executive producers, as they had been on “Band of Brothers.” “The Pacific” won eight Emmys, including the award for outstanding mini-series.
Hugh Alexander Ambrose was born on Aug. 12, 1966, in Baltimore, one of three children that his mother, the former Moira Buckley, brought to her marriage to Stephen Ambrose in 1968. Mr. Ambrose adopted all three children, and the family settled in New Orleans.
After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Montana, Hugh Ambrose went to work for his father, researching “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” (1996) and other books. For the World War II histories, he scoured archives, visited battlegrounds and interviewed a spate of veterans.
“I don’t know where he finds these guys,” Stephen Ambrose, speaking of his son, told The New York Times in 2002. “Then he gets on the phone with them for three or four hours, and that stuff is gold to me.”
In the same interview, Stephen Ambrose, who had weathered public accusations of plagiarism for insufficiently identifying passages from other writers that were used in his own work, said his son had no involvement with the disputed material. Hugh Ambrose, a former vice president of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, was also the historical consultant on “Price for Peace,” a 2002 documentary about the Pacific theater produced by Stephen Ambrose and Mr. Spielberg.
Besides his sister Ms. Tubbs, Mr. Ambrose’s survivors include his wife, the former Andrea Loiacano; two brothers, Barry and Andrew; another sister, Grace Ambrose-Zaken; a son, Brody; and a daughter, Elizabeth. At his death, he was a resident of Helena.
In an interview with The Wisconsin State Journal in 2012, Hugh Ambrose recalled the day his father asked him to become his research partner, and the irresistible inducement the older man held out to him.
“There was a pause and he said the magic words ... I’ll pay you,” Mr. Ambrose said. “And of course I said yes.”
--Obituary from the New York Times
Contributor: MMMGM (41124409)
A son of the popular historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the younger Mr. Ambrose began his career as a researcher on his father’s books, including “Band of Brothers,” the blockbuster that followed members of the 101st Airborne through the European theater. That book was adapted as an HBO mini-series in 2001.
Father and son had begun work on “The Pacific” together; after Stephen Ambrose’s death from cancer in 2002, Hugh assumed authorship of the book and served as the historical consultant on the television series. Published by New American Library, “The Pacific” chronicles the region’s major battles — including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa — through the lives of five United States servicemen.
The 10-part mini-series, broadcast in 2010 and starring Joe Mazzello, James Badge Dale and Jon Seda, offered a fictionalized rendition of those events. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were executive producers, as they had been on “Band of Brothers.” “The Pacific” won eight Emmys, including the award for outstanding mini-series.
Hugh Alexander Ambrose was born on Aug. 12, 1966, in Baltimore, one of three children that his mother, the former Moira Buckley, brought to her marriage to Stephen Ambrose in 1968. Mr. Ambrose adopted all three children, and the family settled in New Orleans.
After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Montana, Hugh Ambrose went to work for his father, researching “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” (1996) and other books. For the World War II histories, he scoured archives, visited battlegrounds and interviewed a spate of veterans.
“I don’t know where he finds these guys,” Stephen Ambrose, speaking of his son, told The New York Times in 2002. “Then he gets on the phone with them for three or four hours, and that stuff is gold to me.”
In the same interview, Stephen Ambrose, who had weathered public accusations of plagiarism for insufficiently identifying passages from other writers that were used in his own work, said his son had no involvement with the disputed material. Hugh Ambrose, a former vice president of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, was also the historical consultant on “Price for Peace,” a 2002 documentary about the Pacific theater produced by Stephen Ambrose and Mr. Spielberg.
Besides his sister Ms. Tubbs, Mr. Ambrose’s survivors include his wife, the former Andrea Loiacano; two brothers, Barry and Andrew; another sister, Grace Ambrose-Zaken; a son, Brody; and a daughter, Elizabeth. At his death, he was a resident of Helena.
In an interview with The Wisconsin State Journal in 2012, Hugh Ambrose recalled the day his father asked him to become his research partner, and the irresistible inducement the older man held out to him.
“There was a pause and he said the magic words ... I’ll pay you,” Mr. Ambrose said. “And of course I said yes.”
--Obituary from the New York Times
Contributor: MMMGM (41124409)
