Ragan, Sam, 1915-

Samuel Talmadge Ragan was born in Berea in Granville County, N.C., in 1915. He was graduated from Atlantic Christian College in 1936 and was awarded a Doctorate of Literature from there in 1972. Ragan served as the first secretary of the North Carolina Department of Art, Culture, and History from 1972 to 1973. He wrote two award winning collections of poetry, The Tree in the Far Pasture in 1964 and To the Waters Edge in 1971, along with several works of non-fiction and prose. In 1982, he was named Poet Laureate of the state of North Carolina by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. He could be seen on television giving commentaries on WUNC-TV and doing Sam Ragan Reports on WTVD in Durham.

Ragan was active in the promotion of literature and the arts in North Carolina. He was chair of the North Carolina Arts Council, a member of the founding commission and original Board of Trustees of the North Carolina School of the Arts, president of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, and president of Friends of Weymouth, which operates the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines. Additionally, Ragan chaired the North Carolina Writer's Conference; conducted workshops for writers at North Carolina State University for nine years; and served on the faculties of St. Andrews College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Sandhills College.

For twenty years, Ragan served as managing editor and executive editor of the News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. When Katherine Boyd gave up ownership of The Pilot, a weekly newspaper in Southern Pines, N.C., Ragan took over as editor. For 27 years, Ragan edited and published The Pilot and continued to publicize and promote North Carolina writers by publishing more book reviews and literary news than most larger papers. Ragan died at his home in Southern Pines on 11 May 1996 after a long illness.