A Brief Tribute to Joe Akerman Jr.

I received sad news recently that Joe Akerman Jr. passed away. I was given this news on Facebook by his son Mark.

Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Akerman wrote the book Florida Cowman. Florida Cowman was a book that I read as a sophomore in high school and used as a source for a term paper in history class. Florida Cowman is, in my opinion, one of the best on the subject of Florida’s great cattle raising history.

The cover of my whipmaking DVD is actually one of the many sketches that Joe made as illustrations for Florida Cowman. I was granted permission by Mark Akerman on behalf of his father to use the piece. For that I remain ever grateful to Mark and Joe.

Mr. Akerman’s obituary can be found here.

-Rhett