He braved dangerous criminals, stalked wild wolves, waded into floodwaters, and chased a hurricane down the Texas coast into Mexico, but in a cruel turn of fate he was felled by a tiny insect. Photographer Doug Milner died November 13 after suffering an allergic reaction to a wasp sting at his home in the sleepy town of Poetry. In the relatively short span of seven years, Milner, who was 37, had become a major contributor to this magazine. A former staff photographer for the Dallas Times Herald, Doug had an instinctive journalistic sense and was a natural for assignments that could be called “hard news.” And often the harder the better; I never gave Doug an easy assignment, yet he accepted each one with the same genial calm. This easygoing manner helped him photograph everyone from skinheads in Dallas’ Deep Ellum arts district (“I’m a Nazi Until Death,” February 1989) to rival advertising executives (“Ad Men at War,” November 1990) to then–GOP candidate for governor George W. Bush (“Born to Run,” May 1994). He was a real talent and a pleasure to work with. A devoted family man, he never missed an opportunity to dote on his wife, Brenda, and daughter Sophie Texanna—so named for the state he loved. A memorial exhibition of his work will be held at the Pro-Jex Gallery in Austin from January 5 to 31.
