Dr. Sam Stetson, 81, a premier industry historian, passed away from brain cancer earlier this week at his Arlington, Virigina home.
“Sam had been in a coma just before he passed away Tuesday afternoon at 3:15 p.m. But he was surrounded by close friends," said Paul Harless, executor of the Stetson estate.
Stetson underwent unsuccessful brain surgery last August and was moved to a nursing home where he stayed for three months. He could not move his left arm and left leg
“Sam hated the food at the nursing home and wanted to come home and he did,” Harless told AVN.com. “Sam would do anything for anyone and loved to research subjects."
With a lifelong interest in erotica, he began collecting “Tijuana bibles,” which were pornographic comic books sold under the counter in tobacco shops in the 1940s. Beginning in the 1950s, Stetson donated hundreds of classic stag movies in 8mm and 16mm, along with various objects to the Kinsey Institute.
In 1989, Stetson was named Associate Professor of Erotology at the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco.
He assisted the late adult writer/filmmaker Jim Holliday in writing his book “Only The Best: Jim Hollidays’s Adult Video Almanac and Trivia Treasure.” In the book’s acknowledgements, Holliday referred to Stetson as “my mentor.”
In the January 1999 issue of Hustler magazine, an article by Louis Panay appeared entitled “Leaders of the Crack: The 50 Most Influential People in Porn for 1999.” He cited Stetson as the “XXX Porn Historian” and said, “Sam is a reclusive Ph.D. with an extensive knowledge of the porn industry.”
There will be no funeral service for Stetson, whose remains were cremated.
