Curtis John Mead died May 1, 1998 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 52. He was born Sept. 17, 1945 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Henry and Evelyn Mead of Aitkin, Minnesota. He moved with his parents and sister, Evonne, to Seward, Nebraska in 1949 when his father purchased the Seward County Independent.

He graduated from Seward High School in 1963 where he received the Senior Key Award. He was active in band, the string orchestra, the school Philosophy Club and was president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. He wrote for the school newspaper and assisted in creating a men's high school pep club called the Minutemen.

He studied journalism and liberal arts at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis from 1963 to 1967 where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and the University Board of Publications. He served in the U.S. Army Special Forces Division of the Green Berets from 1968–1970 and was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany.

In 1971, he returned to Seward and worked at the Seward County Independent where he assisted in the transition from hot type, letterpress production to offset. In 1972, he moved to Boston and established a political consulting company. He worked for a variety of candidates and politicians, including Thomas Eagleton, Ted Sorenson, and John Lindsey, mayor of New York City.

During those years, he was referred to in a Time magazine story as a "political whiz kid." In 1975 he placed a bid to purchase a Cambridge, Massachusetts newspaper by putting together a consortium of backers including David Rockefeller Jr. In 1977, he lectured on politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In 1995, he moved to London and worked to produce a theatrical play. His plans were hindered by neurological disorders which increased in severity during his last years.

Curtis was preceded in death by his father in 1994. He is survived by his mother, Evelyn Mead, Seward; one sister, Evonne Agnello, Tacoma, Washington; and one nephew, Adam Agnello, Providence, Rhode Island.