Samuel P. Arnold, Old West showman, culinary historian and founder of The Fort restaurant, died Wednesday night in Phoenix. He would have been 80 years old on June 28.
Arnold and a companion had been traveling in California and Arizona for a month.
His daughter, Holly Arnold Kinney, was in Denver and is traveling to Phoenix today.
Kinney grew up in the compound, built to resemble Bent’s Old Fort on the Santa Fe Trail, and has run the 43-year-old restaurant full-time since 2001. The restaurant will remain open.
Services are not yet planned, but the family asks that donations be made to the Tesoro Foundation, a non-profit group that protects American artistic works: Tesoro Foundation, 19192 Highway 8, Morrison, CO 80465; 303-697-4771.
