Steve Sansweet
Encyclopedia
Stephen J. Sansweet is the Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm
and the author of sixteen books, fourteen of them about Star Wars. He is also the owner of the world's largest private collection of Star Wars
memorabilia. After Sansweet relocated to Northern California
to be closer to his new office at Skywalker Ranch
, he bought a former chicken ranch and refurbished its barn to house his collection. The property was renamed Rancho Obi-Wan.
Sansweet says that he got a lot out of his classes, many taught by working journalists. But he got as much out of a unique community of fellow students who put out the four-times-a-week Temple News. There was no better training, from reporting and writing to photography and editing — and even "paste-up" in the composing room to get the offset daily ready for the printer, he adds. He worked on the special issue reporting the assassination of John F. Kennedy; as two-term editor in chief a few years later, he called in late-night instructions to hand-print a banner headline announcing a next-day visit to campus of President Lyndon Johnson.
Between his junior and senior years, Sansweet got a then-rare summer internship at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked the night police beat; graduated magna cum laude and was named an Outstanding Journalism Graduate at Temple; and immediately went to work full-time for the Inquirer after graduation. During this time, Sansweet served a six-year stint in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, transferring to the Air National Guard.
In early 1969 Sansweet became a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. After working in the Journal's Philadelphia and Montreal bureaus, Sansweet was transferred to Los Angeles, where he covered the gaming industry, aerospace, banking, and Hollywood. He helped break the first stories on massive foreign bribery by U.S.-based multinationals and was part of a Journal team that won the 1977 Sigma Delta Chi Public Service Award; he was a Loeb Award finalist in 1990. Sansweet was a lecturer in business journalism at University of Southern California in the mid-1980s, a course that he created. He became the Journal's Los Angeles bureau chief in 1987, a position he kept until 1996 when he made a leap of faith and followed his bliss — and passion — to become Director of Specialty Marketing at Lucasfilm Ltd. His title later changed to Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations.
Sansweet has turned his love of the Star Wars saga into a second career, acting as Lucasfilm’s liaison to fans worldwide, and their liaison to the company. He has done presentations at well over 100 conventions in the U.S. and many more internationally from the U.K., France, Spain, and Germany, to Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Finland.
He appeared on more than 50 hours of Star Wars collectibles programming on QVC in the last half of the 1990s, and has amassed the world's largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia, housed in a 5000 square feet (464.5 m²) private museum — a converted chicken barn — in Sonoma County, Calif. Not abandoning his love of writing, Sansweet has sixteen books to his credit, fourteen of them on Star Wars, including the 1.2 million word Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008 and 2009’s Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles – Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
It was announced on October 20, 2010, that Sansweet would be stepping down as Head of Fan Relations effective April 2011. He stated via press release: "Nearly 15 years ago I left my post as Los Angeles Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal to follow my bliss and take a 'one-year job' as Lucasfilm's Star Wars ambassador," said Sansweet. "Now it's time for another change and new challenges, while still maintaining an active role in the Star Wars fan community."
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
and the author of sixteen books, fourteen of them about Star Wars. He is also the owner of the world's largest private collection of Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
memorabilia. After Sansweet relocated to Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
to be closer to his new office at Skywalker Ranch
Skywalker Ranch
Skywalker Ranch is the name of the workplace of film director and producer George Lucas. It is located in a secluded, but open area near Nicasio, California, in Marin County. The ranch is located on Lucas Valley Road, although Lucas is not related to the road's namesake, who was a...
, he bought a former chicken ranch and refurbished its barn to house his collection. The property was renamed Rancho Obi-Wan.
Biography
Stephen J. Sansweet has had two very different careers, one of them fairly unusual for a corporate organizational chart. Born in 1945 and raised in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia, Sansweet says he knew he wanted to be a writer from age six, when he hand-printed a newsletter and sold copies to neighbors for three cents. School newspapers, magazines, and yearbooks followed, and he became a journalism major at Temple University.Sansweet says that he got a lot out of his classes, many taught by working journalists. But he got as much out of a unique community of fellow students who put out the four-times-a-week Temple News. There was no better training, from reporting and writing to photography and editing — and even "paste-up" in the composing room to get the offset daily ready for the printer, he adds. He worked on the special issue reporting the assassination of John F. Kennedy; as two-term editor in chief a few years later, he called in late-night instructions to hand-print a banner headline announcing a next-day visit to campus of President Lyndon Johnson.
Between his junior and senior years, Sansweet got a then-rare summer internship at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked the night police beat; graduated magna cum laude and was named an Outstanding Journalism Graduate at Temple; and immediately went to work full-time for the Inquirer after graduation. During this time, Sansweet served a six-year stint in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, transferring to the Air National Guard.
In early 1969 Sansweet became a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. After working in the Journal's Philadelphia and Montreal bureaus, Sansweet was transferred to Los Angeles, where he covered the gaming industry, aerospace, banking, and Hollywood. He helped break the first stories on massive foreign bribery by U.S.-based multinationals and was part of a Journal team that won the 1977 Sigma Delta Chi Public Service Award; he was a Loeb Award finalist in 1990. Sansweet was a lecturer in business journalism at University of Southern California in the mid-1980s, a course that he created. He became the Journal's Los Angeles bureau chief in 1987, a position he kept until 1996 when he made a leap of faith and followed his bliss — and passion — to become Director of Specialty Marketing at Lucasfilm Ltd. His title later changed to Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations.
Sansweet has turned his love of the Star Wars saga into a second career, acting as Lucasfilm’s liaison to fans worldwide, and their liaison to the company. He has done presentations at well over 100 conventions in the U.S. and many more internationally from the U.K., France, Spain, and Germany, to Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Finland.
He appeared on more than 50 hours of Star Wars collectibles programming on QVC in the last half of the 1990s, and has amassed the world's largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia, housed in a 5000 square feet (464.5 m²) private museum — a converted chicken barn — in Sonoma County, Calif. Not abandoning his love of writing, Sansweet has sixteen books to his credit, fourteen of them on Star Wars, including the 1.2 million word Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008 and 2009’s Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles – Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
It was announced on October 20, 2010, that Sansweet would be stepping down as Head of Fan Relations effective April 2011. He stated via press release: "Nearly 15 years ago I left my post as Los Angeles Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal to follow my bliss and take a 'one-year job' as Lucasfilm's Star Wars ambassador," said Sansweet. "Now it's time for another change and new challenges, while still maintaining an active role in the Star Wars fan community."