Beaufort mourns the loss of publisher and friend Jeff Evans. ‘We are all just reeling’
.jpeg "Jeff Evans, the owner of The Island News and The Lowcountry Weekly, died Saturday. Friends recalled how he never seemed to get rattled. He was remembered for his strong support for local news, the arts and not-for-profits.")
Beaufort is reeling over the death of Jeff Evans, a Beaufort publisher known for his love for local journalism, the arts, non-profits and his family and friends. He was 66.
Evans’ death was first reported by the Island News, the weekly newspaper owned by Evans and his wife, Margaret. The couple also published the Lowcountry Weekly, a long-time arts and entertainment news publication.
The Island News reported Evans died Saturday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He was hospitalized after a fall in his Pigeon Point neighborhood home Aug. 31.
“It’s a tremendous loss,” said Mike McCombs, The Island News editor. “We are pretty devastated. He believed strongly in the power of local journalism, community journalism. He was committed to it. Maybe more than anybody else I’ve ever known. We’re going to try to carry that on.”
McCombs said there will be a celebration of life but details were still being worked out as of Monday.
Mike McFee, a Beaufort City Council member and good friend of Evans, whom he had known since the 1980s, called Evans’ passing “unfathomable.”
Jeff and Margaret, said McFee, have made a huge imprint on the news and culture of the area through their publications and support and promotion of events such as the Beaufort International Film Festival, the city’s annual 10-day Water Festival and various arts events. They also were known for their support for nonprofits such as the Child Abuse Prevention Association.
“They were just so involved and so engrained in the philanthropic and cultural events,” McFee said. “You would see them everywhere. They were a mainstay for any event going on. They typically were front and center.”
Besides his work in the publishing business, Evans was a videographer who owned a videography company when he first moved to the area. He also was a skilled graphic designer, photographer and actor.
“Jeff was an immensely talented person,” McFee said. Evans helped pull together a Shakespearean theater group that performed in Beaufort and Bluffton, McFee said. Evans acted and directed.
Jeff and Margaret started the Lowcountry Weekly 25 years ago and bought The Island News in 2018.
Evans designed and laid out the Lowcountry Weekly. He won a first place photography award for best general news photo in the 2023 South Carolina Press Association annual contest in the large weekly category for a photograph published in The Island News. He served on the Press Association’s Executive Committee.
“Jeff loved his papers,” said Debbi Covington, the owner of Catering by Debbi Covington, who has written a food and recipe column for the Lowcountry Weekly for 20 years. “His work was his life.”
His world revolved around downtown Beaufort, Covington said. It’s where the office for his publications was located. He attended all the city’s downtown meetings and he knew scores of people outside his usual circle of friends including servers and waitresses and others who earn a living working in downtown Beaufort.
“He kind of did his own thing,” Covington said. “He was just a great guy.”
Evans grew up on the West Coast where he was a big fan of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants. He loved his friends, said Covington.
“We are all just reeling,” Covington said. “Things aren’t going to be the same.”
Ron Tucker, the executive director of the Beaufort Film Festival, called Evans “one of the good guys.” One of the qualities Tucker admired about Evans was his unflappability.
“He was always the calmest guy in the room,” Tucker said. “He was just a super nice guy.”
Tucker first met Evans in 1994 when Evans was doing a video for a cancer organization and approached him to talk about video. Evans ended up mentoring Tucker in video work. Later, Tucker and his wife, Rebecca, started the Beaufort International Film Festival. Evans was a big supporter and served as an awards presenter. Recently, he presented the award for best comedy, which fit perfectly with his simple, dry sense of humor.
“It’s a big hole in the Beaufort community’s heart right now,” Tucker said of the loss of Evans, “and it’s something that’s going to take a while to heal.”
