James Walker Benét, a journalist and author and one of the few surviving veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, died Dec. 16 in Santa Rosa. Mr. Benét, who lived in the Sonoma County town of Forestville, was 98.
The cause, said his daughter Judith Richardson, was the infirmities of old age.
In his later life Mr. Benét was a quiet, reserved and scholarly man, but in his youth he was active in leftist causes and volunteered to serve in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight the fascist forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco that were backed by Nazi Germany.
Mr. Benét was born in New York in 1914 to a literary family. His father was William Rose Benét, the poet and founder of the Saturday Review of Literature. His uncle was Stephen Vincent Benét, a poet and writer. Both his father and uncle won Pulitzer Prizes. Mr. Benét's aunt, Kathleen Norris, a noted California writer, raised him in Marin County after his mother died when he was a child.
Mr. Benét graduated from Stanford University in 1935 and went to work for the New Republic magazine in New York. He also had military service in his blood - both his grandfather and great-grandfather were generals in the U.S. Army. His political views led him to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
"If the moment comes when it's the obvious right thing and somebody's got to do it, maybe it's going to be you," he explained in an interview with Public Radio International this year. "I always felt that I was on the right side of history in Spain."
Mr. Benét served as an ambulance driver and saw combat. He was friendly with Ernest Hemingway, who wrote about the war, most notably in "For Whom the Bell Tolls."
Mr. Benét returned to the United States when it became clear that the Franco forces had won the war. He wrote for a time for the New Republic and during World War II wrote for Tass, the Soviet news agency.
He moved to San Francisco in 1947 and became a copy editor at The Chronicle.
While he was on the copy desk, Mr. Benét was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee and questioned closely about his activities in 1936 and 1937. He refused to answer. "I will not be a witness against myself," he said.
The committee took no action against him and his refusal to testify was defended by Chronicle management. Mr. Benét later became a reporter, covering education.
He also taught journalism at San Francisco State College and UC Berkeley.
Mr. Benét's friends included the writers Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman, and he wrote three books - two mystery novels set in San Francisco and a guide to the Bay Area.
He left The Chronicle in the late 1960s and was a reporter on KQED's acclaimed "Newsroom" program until it was discontinued in 1977.
Mr. Benét retired in 1979 and devoted himself to a life of books, wine and gardening in Sonoma County.
He was married three times. His first marriage, to Mary Liles, an actress, ended in divorce. His second wife was Jane Gugel, The Chronicle's food editor, who wrote under the name "Jane Friendly." Gugel died and he married her sister-in-law, Ruth Gugel, who also died.
Mr. Benét is survived by his son, Peter, of West Hartford, Conn.; his daughter, Judith Richardson, of Woods Hole, Mass.; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
Another daughter, Mary Kathleen Benét, died earlier.
A memorial service is being planned.
Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: cnolte@sfchronicle.com
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