A newspaperman in every sense of the word, Robert Rector's 50-year career in journalism spanned events of historical import as well as local news. But every year, he also compiled a list of the best and worst corrections issued by publications and television stations.
"Why commemorate mistakes? After all, journalism is a profession that prides itself on accuracy," he wrote in 2015. "It seems a little humor is good medicine when you spend your days covering a world that seems to have gone mad."
The column itself merited a correction of its own, clarifying the list was not exclusively from 2015.
"The irony of these corrections," Rector noted, "is not lost."
Rector, city editor of the Pasadena Star-News from 2001 to 2007 and later a prolific columnist, died on Sept. 4, in his hometown of Glendale. He was 83.
Rector also oversaw the newsrooms at the San Francisco Examiner, Herald Examiner, and Valley News.
Star-News Public Editor Larry Wilson remembers learning Rector applied for the city editor job because he was bored in retirement after 33 years with the Los Angeles Times.
"I met him for lunch at the (late, lamented) Yujean Kang in Old Pasadena, the groundbreaking Chinese restaurant, and here was a sophisticate it was immediately clear would have an entirely different style as a newsroom leader than our usual run of youngish, ambitious journalists -- blue-blazered, buttoned down, wool-slacked, penny-loafered," Wilson wrote in an email. "He had been there and done that at the Times for decades, was in his 60s in contrast to the rest of us, and yet he was eager to join a smallish but fine organization as a coda to his career. It was an easier time, HR-wise -- I just agreed to hire him on the spot.
"Bob went on for the several years we were lucky enough to have him to mentor so many superb reporters -- Cindy Chang, Gary Scott, Gene Maddaus. Marshall Allen among them, so many of whom have gone on to brilliant careers. He always made the time to visit with our staff, never rushed, telling war stories from the L.A. newsroom trenches, easy with the advice about perhaps a better way to tell the story."
Wilson said when Rector retired again, "he had so much fun writing his funny column, lampooning the ridiculous figures in this ridiculable world.
"Those were the best of the newsroom days. I miss Bob very much."
Rector was born 18 days after Pearl Harbor, on Christmas Day 1941, the son of Jack and Margaret Rector. He spent nearly all of his life in Glendale, graduating from Glendale High School in 1959 before heading to San Francisco State University, already focused on a life in journalism.
"The worst thing that happened to me in high school was flunking out of geometry," he wrote in 2017. "Since it was mid-term, I had to find a course to finish out the year. I chose journalism. The rest is history."
Rector was working for the San Francisco Examiner when he was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1964. After basic training in Fort Ord, he was sent to Fort Belvoir in Virginia. It was in nearby Washington, D.C. that he met Harriett Nicely of Indiana in 1965. They were married on June 17, 1967, and spent their honeymoon driving cross-country in a beat-up Pontiac headed to Los Angeles.
Rector joked both the marriage and the car survived the journey. He and Harriett were married for 50 years.
They had two daughters, Wendy and Allison, born in 1970 and 1979. He was a fantastic father, his daughter Allison Krescent wrote.
"He took us to activities, coached t-ball, read books, played basketball in the driveway, played board games, and regularly corrected our grammar so we'd learn," she said. "He gave us a love for rock and roll - he loved music, playing the tenor saxophone as a kid and also the guitar. He said the older music teacher didn't appreciate it when he started trying to play rock and roll on his sax. He loved to play records and had quite the collection - my sister and I cherish the memory of him playing records for us."
Among his other loves: his Glendale home of more than 50 years, and his community of friends. Rector was an avid golfer, ruefully admitting at age 70 that he had lost a good 10 yards off his tee shot, but still showing up Sundays at the Oakmont Country Club. He and his wife loved traveling to Hawaii and spending time in Palm Springs in their retirement.
He was a diehard UCLA fan, a 30-year football season-ticket holder, who loved nothing more than tailgating at the Rose Bowl, Krescent said. Rector also cheered on the Dodgers, the Rams and the LA Kings.
But most recently, he was the biggest and most avid fan of his baby granddaughter, Krescent's daughter Emily.
"He lit up when she was in the room," Krescent said.
Rector's life in print included three Pulitzer Prize-winning turns for Spot News. He was on the team that won the prize in 1992 for the L.A. Riots, 1994 for the Northridge earthquake and 1997 for the North Hollywood bank shootout. After retiring from the L.A. Times, he moved on to the Pasadena Star-News as city editor and then as a columnist.
"He truly felt that journalism was so important in our country, to keep an eye on the government, keep people informed," Krescent wrote in an email. "It's sadly strayed a lot from those ideals, but he held them fiercely! I've heard from a lot of former colleagues that he was so witty and smart, but also just funny and was the glue that held many newsroom teams together."
His daughter said a long-running Rector joke riffed on his having the most boring name.
"His older brother was named for his dad, and 'I was just Bob,' he'd say," Krescent said. "He joked that no one important was ever named Bob. There were no King Bobs, no president Bobs. Bob is the guy next door, the soccer coach, or the guy at the hardware store."
The best thing about the name was it was easy to spell when he started elementary school, he'd joke,
"I had to tease him when the most recent pope was elected, as his birth name was Robert and he goes by Bob to his family," she said. They had a laugh over Rector living to see a Pope Bob.
In a column he wrote about turning 70, Rector mused on a childhood of bikes, baseball gloves and comic books, his teenage years "living the lyrics of a Beach Boys song," awakening in college to a diverse world rife with racial segregation and other social injustices and making a living reporting on all of it.
"At this age, you try to live each day to its fullest and look back on the journey, trying to make some sense of it all," Rector wrote. "On reflection, it's been a wonderful trip."
Rector was predeceased by his parents, brother Jack and sister Jane, and his beloved Harriett. He is survived by his daughter, Wendy DuBois and her husband Damon, and by his daughter Allison Krescent, her husband David, and their daughter Emily.
The family is planning a private celebration of Rector's life.
They also encouraged donations to the Alzheimer's Association, as they lost Rector's wife Harriett, to the disease.