Jeffrey F. Counts

Veteran journalist loved exploring Michigan’s outdoors

Jeff Counts, a veteran Michigan journalist and outdoorsman, died April 11 at the age of 71.

Counts started his journalism career as a copy boy at the Detroit Free Press in the late 1960s and early 1970s while a student at Wayne State University. He went on to work as a reporter and editor at The Bay City Times and the Observer and Eccentric newspapers before retirement.

An avid fly-fisherman and bird hunter, Counts then started his own publication, Michigan’s Streamside Journal, which covered the state’s outdoors. He went on to author travel guides to the state like: “Michigan: An Explorer’s Guide,” “Detroit & Ann Arbor: A Great Destination” and “The Paddler’s Guide to Michigan.”

Counts was well-known in hunting and fishing circles. Every fall, he hung around a group of writers and outdoorsmen like Jim Harrison and Phil Caputo during bird hunting season in the Upper Peninsula.

Counts was born in at Grace Hospital in Detroit in 1948. His father was a painting contractor on the city’s west side and his mother was a Detroit Public Schools teacher. He was a standout football player at Cody High School, where he graduated in 1966. He was recruited to play football at several schools across the country, but a knee injury ended his sporting career.

Counts turned to writing and the outdoors after giving up sports. He backpacked Isle Royale several times and started fly-fishing the state’s numerous trout streams.

He married his high school sweetheart, Cathy, on Sept. 12, 1970. A son, Christopher, was born in 1972. The family moved to Bay City where Counts got a job as a police reporter for The Bay City Times. Counts eventually became an assistant metro editor.

Another son, John, was born in 1977.

The family moved back down to the Detroit area in 1987. Counts was an editor for the Observer and Eccentric newspapers in Plymouth-Canton and Redford.

For the past thirty years, he resided in the Old Rosedale Gardens neighborhood of Livonia with Cathy. They enjoyed traveling and cooking together. He enjoyed other pastimes like baking, biking, hiking, paddling, researching his genealogy, reading and gardening. He was featured on the neighborhood garden walk and a member of the Rosedale Gardens Presbyterian Church.

He is survived by wife Catherine; sons Christopher (Kate) and John (Meredith); grandchildren Kaia, Lena, June and Anna and sister Christine Robinson, of Florida.

A memorial gathering is planned at Casterline Funeral Home, 122 W Dunlap St., Northville, MI 48167, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17 with a Eulogy service beginning at 7:30 p.m. A service is planned at Rosedale Gardens Presbyterian Church, 9601 Hubbard, Livonia, MI at 11 a.m on Thursday, April 18 with visitation starting at 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either Trout Unlimited , (517) 599-5238, or the Capuchin Soup Kitchen , (313) 579-2100 (ext. 185).