Kevin Drum Obituary

October 19, 1958 - March 7, 2025 It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Kevin Drum on March 7, 2025. He was 66 years old.
Born in Long Beach, California, to educators Dale and Jean Drum, Kevin grew up in nearby Garden Grove. When in the 4th grade, he participated in the first gifted program at Mabel Carver School. He thrived in the novel environment for intellectually gifted students and remained in contact with many of his classmates.
A sabbatical opportunity moved the Drum family to Denmark for a year. This first overseas trip sparked Kevin's lifelong love of travel. Over the years his travels included trips to England, France, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Canada, Columbia, and nearly all 50 States.
Kevin and his father loved photography, and they enjoyed developing pictures in their home darkroom. They spent many hours learning about photography while honing their shared creative hobby.
At Pacifica High School, Kevin lettered in tennis and served as the Editor of the school paper. A National Merit Scholar, Kevin attended the Summer Science Training Program in San Diego in 1975. After graduation, he headed to Europe with friends for a memorable summer of backpacking and travel.
Initially, Kevin attended Cal Tech as a math major. Two years later he transferred to Cal State Long Beach to focus on journalism, serving as an Ace Reporter for the Long Beach Daily 49er. He graduated from CSULB in 1981. The difficult job market at that time redirected Kevin away from journalism. He accepted a job with electronics retailer Radio Shack, eventually becoming a Store Manager. Technology came naturally to him. His Radio Shack experience led him to Emulex Corporation, a supplier of data storage products, where his skills came together as a Technical Writer, subsequently working his way up to Product Management. Kevin met his wife, Marian, while both were Emulex employees. They married in 1991.
Kevin joined Irvine-based Kofax Image Products, a developer of document imaging solutions. At Kofax, Kevin further developed his Product Management skills, advancing to Vice President of Marketing, and later serving as General Manager of the Ascent Software Business. Kevin built a very professional and robust marketing department. Kevin was heavily involved with several acquisitions and was an instrumental part of the management team that took Kofax public with an IPO in 1997.
After successful careers at Emulex and Kofax, Kevin stepped away from the corporate technology and marketing world, focusing his attention on tracking down his family's genealogy and fully exploring the compelling new world of blogging.
Kevin returned to his journalism roots by creating his first blog, CalPundit, in 2002. He typically published multiple posts daily. After blogging independently, he was hired by Washington Monthly, starting their Political Animal blog as well as writing for the magazine. He was later hired by Mother Jones, where he wrote for the blog and the magazine. In 2021 he left Mother Jones, returning to independent blogging on his new site, Jabberwocking.com. His posts were varied, focusing primarily on national politics, economics, photography and cats. Kevin's research on lead poisoning and crime was nationally recognized. His interest in photography expanded to include deep space astrophotography. He enjoyed sharing his pictures and the stories behind them. Those scenic pictures were typically on display Monday through Thursday, as Fridays were reserved for the cats! Kevin began 'Friday Cat Blogging', a weekly tradition that many of his readers looked forward to. He had a passion for creating charts and a gift for taking complicated information and distilling it down into understandable concepts. This was also true on a personal level when Kevin went public about his ongoing treatment of Multiple Myeloma, a bone marrow cancer first diagnosed in 2014. He was very open about the many grueling procedures and years of chemotherapy, continuing to provide periodic 'Health Update' posts.
Kevin is survived by his wife, Marian, and their two cats, Hilbert and Charlie. He is also survived by his mother, Jean, and siblings Karen and Stephen.
No public memorial services are planned. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages you to donate to the political cause or charity of your choice.