Journalism loses one of its best

Tony Dodero

Robert “Bob” Barker, a veteran Orange County newsman who worked at

the Daily Pilot for more than two decades as a reporter and copy

editor, died Thursday after a long battle with brain cancer. He was

73.

Barker began his journalism career as a sportswriter in 1957 at

the Garden Grove Evening News, later doing stints at a number of

newspapers as a copy editor, managing editor and news reporter

covering county and city government, mostly in Huntington Beach.

He and his wife, Barbara, whom he met on a blind date in 1959,

lived in the same home in Garden Grove for more than 40 years, where

they raised their two sons, Corey, 47, and Scott, 42.

“He was a tremendous example for me and my brother,” Scott Barker

said. “He was a great father and great husband. He was really loving,

kind and gentle and selfless. He was really a hard worker, too. He

made everything fun, and he loved pranks.”

Barker was known around Huntington Beach City Hall as much for his

hard-nosed, muckraking-style exposes as he was for his softhearted

features, which he filed for the Pilot for more than 20 years.

Huntington Beach City Councilman Dave Sullivan said Barker was

simply the best reporter he ever met.

“He was outstanding,” said Sullivan, who later played softball

with Barker after he retired from reporting.

William Lobdell, Barker’s former editor at the Daily Pilot and now

a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, agreed with Sullivan.

“Along with being a great man, he was simply the best journalist

I’ve known,” Lobdell said. “He was both aggressive and kind. He cared

about his beat, his sources and his craft. He had passion for his

work but always left enough time for his family. I idolized him.”

Daily Pilot Sports Editor Rich Dunn also had fond memories of

working with Barker.

“He was somebody who enjoyed his craft,” Dunn said. “He was a

positive, enlightening spirit in the newsroom.”

Former Daily Pilot Managing Editor Steve Marble, who worked with

Barker as a reporter and an editor, agreed with that sentiment.

“Bob was an absolute delight, a great newsman, a dear friend and a

wonderful human being,” said Marble, now the city editor of the

Times’ Orange County Edition. “I can’t even begin to calculate how

much I learned from him, and how much I valued his company.”

Barker was born in 1931 in Redlands and grew up on a farm in the

Riverside County town of Calimesa, where his family raised turkeys

and grew grapes, tomatoes, peaches and grains.

He attended San Bernardino Valley College from 1949 until 1951, when he joined the Navy. After he left the Navy in 1955 he attended San Jose State, where he graduated in 1957 with a journalism degree.

He worked as sports writer at the Evening News for a number of

years and rose to the ranks of managing editor. He left that paper in

the late 1960s for a brief stint at the Independent Press Telegram in

Long Beach. He ended up at the Daily Pilot in 1970 as a copy editor,

then moved back to the reporting ranks in the late 1970s.

He remained at the Daily Pilot and its sister paper, the

Huntington Beach Independent, until 1992. He left to be a

correspondent for the Los Angeles Times Orange County Edition.

He worked at The Times for about two years before returning to the

Independent as a part-time writer. In 1997, he retired from

journalism for good.

After his retirement, he spent most of his time traveling with

Barbara, playing with his grandson and playing softball in a league

for those 65 and older. His batting average was .720, and one year

his team won the equivalent of the World Series in softball for that

age group.

Barker especially loved gardening and sports, namely the USC

Trojans and his beloved Dodgers. He attended the Dodgers’ first game

at the Memorial Coliseum, when they first arrived in Los Angeles in

1958.

Barker is survived by his wife of 45 years, Barbara, sons Scott

and Corey, brothers Jack and Dean, sister Lora Ward and grandson

Trevor.

Services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Waverly Church at 1700

Fairhaven Ave. in Santa Ana.

Donations can be made to Barker’s hospice provider, Vitas

Healthcare, 220 Commerce, Suite 100, Irvine, 92602.