George Jackson, dance critic and author, dies at 92
Longtime D.C. resident George Jackson, a highly acclaimed dance critic and historian who wrote dance reviews for publications including the New York Times and the Washington Post — all while working in his day job as a microbiologist for the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration — died Aug. 5 of natural causes at the age of 92. Friends said he passed away peacefully in his sleep in New York City, where he recently moved to be close to his husband and partner of many years, dance photographer Costas Cacaroukas, who shared Jackson’s intense interest in the performing art of dance, especially ballet.
Biographical write-ups on Jackson show he was born in Vienna, Austria, on Dec. 10, 1931, and placed on a trail by his parents in 1938 at the age of 7 and sent to London to be with cousins to escape the Nazi invasion of Austria as a member of a Jewish family.
His birth name was Hans Georg Jakobowicz, which he later Americanized to George Jackson. He was reunited with his parents, and the family moved to Chicago, where he grew up and saw his first dance performance at the age of 14 “and fell in love with the art form,” according to a 2021 tribute to Jackson by the publication Dance View Times.
