Ted Michael Jackson, 74, passed away on July 6, 2025, in Reedsport, Oregon.

Ted was born in Wickenburg, Arizona, on December 21, 1950, to Harold Clifton Jackson and Anne Catherine Ridgeway. He is survived by his brother, Clifton Robert “Cliff Sr.” Jackson (86), and spouse Jeanette (81), both of Lakeside, Oregon; nephew “Cliff Jr.” Jackson (spouse Kimberly) and their children Joyce (6) and Elsie (2), all of Reedsport, Oregon; great-nephew Caleb Jackson (27) (spouse Alex) and their daughters Joyce (6) and Elsie (2); great-nephews Joshua Jackson (24) and Aiden Jackson (16); and great-nieces Katy Jackson (11) and Trinity Jackson (18).

Ted grew up in Parker, Arizona, and attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for five years. He worked several jobs in his life, including bartending in Las Vegas. Around 1968, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War and served his country for four years, primarily in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

From 1991 to 2017, Ted worked as a contracted Fisheries Observer for the National Marine Fisheries Service. He deployed on two- to three-month contracts in domestic fisheries at sea on board factory trawlers in the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Aleutian Islands, as well as at shoreside fish processing plants in Alaska. From 1985 to 1994, he also deployed as a contracted observer at sea on several Japanese Joint Venture processors receiving catches from U.S. catcher boats off Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. In 1989, he additionally deployed on a Japanese Longline Sablefish survey off Alaska.

His duties as an observer included sampling commercial catches of pollock, cod, hake, sablefish, and flatfish for quota monitoring, biological data, and prohibited species. Ted logged 2,112 deployment days in domestic fisheries on 29 vessels and four shoreside processors. Between observer deployments from 1993 to 1996, he worked as remote administrative staff over several summer seasons for processors in Chignik, Alaska, in the lucrative sockeye salmon purse seine fishery. The Director of the NMFS Observer Program stated, “Ted was a fantastic observer and fisheries biologist. He was one of the longest serving observers in the history of the program. The Alaska fisheries, and all the critters, are better off thanks to his contributions.”

After retiring to Reedsport, Ted enjoyed gardening, caring for his cats, Garth and Harvi, and finding joy in being a friend to his neighbors. Ted’s ashes will be joined with those of his parents in a natural Oregon setting during the family’s celebration of his life.