Jason Rudolph Zanon, age 48, died unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, 2023, at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Wash., where he was awaiting surgery after suffering an aortic aneurism. He was visiting with his parents in Port Angeles at the time of his death.

Jason was born July 13, 1975, in Seattle to Don and Geri (Giovannini) Zanon. The family moved to  Port Angeles in 1980, and Jason entered kindergarten at Hamilton School that year. He subsequently entered the Alternative Program (later the Multi-Age Classroom) at Franklin School, then attended Stevens Middle School and graduated from Port Angeles High School in 1993.

While in elementary school, he was introduced to the cello, and he played with the Middle School orchestra and the Port Angeles Youth Orchestra until entering high school. There he discovered the debate program and became seriously invested in the issues and the research required to prepare for competitions.

As a youth, he also was active in sports, first through the Port Angeles youth soccer program, then the Stevens Middle School basketball team and the High School soccer team, but he found his sports passion when he joined the lacrosse team at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. His love for the game continued through many years spent as a lacrosse referee and as a coach for youth teams in Indiana.

He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Lewis and Clark in 1997 and went to work for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (a cause for which he had advocated since the age of 12), eventually serving briefly as Executive Director for that non-profit organization. He started his technology career as the first employee of Democracy in Action/Salsa, working in software management and client relations. At the time of his death, he was employed in a senior position at Frakture, a startup offering data automation for non-profit organizations.

In 2007, he began an online blog, Executed Today, which featured daily accounts of historical figures who were executed on that date; that project was rewarded in 2009, when he received a CLIO Award for best writing of a historical blog. He maintained the blog's daily entries until Friday, Feb. 13, 2020 (after 13 years and 13 days, he noted), calling that "the ideal length of time to maintain this . . . fixation." The blog earned him recognition and applause from readers around the world.

He married Ksenia Myasnikova on Oct. 30, 2004, in Washington, D.C., where they lived for several years before moving to Indianapolis, Ind., while she pursued her doctoral degree. Subsequently, they lived briefly in Northfield, Minn., before returning to D.C. and finally moving to Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, England.

Jason was an amazing writer and was known for his wry sense of humor. He became well-traveled during his short life, feeding his insatiable curiosity about the world. Above all, he was a kind soul who had an acute sense of the injustice he saw in the world, and a passionate desire for things to be better.

Survivors include his wife, Ksenia, and his beloved cat Ushki, in England; his parents, Don and Geri Zanon in Port Angeles; a brother, Nathan Zanon of San Jose, Calif., and a brother Darren Zanon (Melissa Baker) and their daughters, Amelie and Sira Zanon, of Falls Church, Va., along with numerous uncles, aunts and cousins.

The family is planning a simple open house at their home, 1508 W. 12th St., Port Angeles, on Sunday, Dec. 3, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. A Zoom link will also be available beginning at 2 p.m.; to receive a link to the gathering, emailnzanon@gmail.com. We welcome stories, poems, music and memories from everyone.

The family requests that memorials be made to The Center for Civilians in Conflict, 1828 L Street NW, Suite 1050, Washington D.C. 20036. Donations may be made online at https://civiliansinconflict.org.

Drennan & Ford Funeral Home is in charge of cremation; their website hosts this obituary at www.drennanford.com.