Designer of Daily Pilot boat passes away

Deirdre Newman

The Daily Pilot’s sailboat logo is a colorful and cherished icon

of the newspaper.

While it has sailed through various incarnations, the first boat

was designed by Robert F. Krieger, who passed away of cancer Saturday

in Costa Mesa. He was 75.

Krieger taught art at Orange Coast College for three decades and

was chairman of the fine and applied art division for a year.

The original publisher of the Pilot, Walter Burroughs, was

searching for an artist to design a logo when Basil Peterson, then

president of OCC, recommended Krieger, said Krieger’s widow, Ellen.

The boat Krieger designed in the late 1950s was a more stylized

line-type version than the boat that graces the front page now, she

said.

In addition to working with OCC, Krieger also set up the nursing

program at Golden West College, because it was considered an applied

art at the time.

His specialty was ancient art history, and he and his wife enjoyed

traveling around the world to visit historical sites, she said.

“He was very intellectual, and we traveled all the time,” she

said. “We’ve been to every ancient site in the world except India.”

In addition to his wife, Krieger is survived by his son, Mark;

daughter-in-law Suzi Krieger; and grandson Cole.

A memorial will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Joachim Catholic

Church in Costa Mesa.