William F. Rockar, 85, a World War II combat photographer, WGN-TV cameraman and environmental activist, died Monday, Feb. 4, in Winchester House in Libertyville of complications following a stroke. Born in Czechoslovakia, Mr. Rockar came to the U.S. with his mother when he was 12. They lived in Schenectady, N.Y. Later, Mr. Rockar moved to Chicago to take art classes. He enlisted in the Army in 1940. He knew several languages and was assigned to counterintelligence work in Chicago. In 1944, he was transferred to the Signal Corps, where he received photography training and was assigned to cover combat in the Philippines. He received a Silver Star for his outstanding film record of the battle for Manila and for braving “heavy enemy machine-gun fire” to rescue “several wounded comrades,” according to the citation. He also received two Bronze Stars. After the war, he joined Coronet Films, working as a cameraman. In 1947, he took a job as a cameraman at WGN but returned to military service in 1950 for a year and a half. After his service, he returned to Chicago and his work at WGN. He married Dorothy in 1953 and the couple had two children. He retired from WGN in 1981. Mr. Rockar became heavily involved with environmental preservation work in Lake County, serving as an officer for years of the Land Conservancy of Lake County. He was passionate about preserving open space and stopping careless building, his family said. He shared that passion with politicians, neighbors and schoolchildren, visiting schools each year to pass out tree seedlings. “He seized on any environmental issue that was meaningful,” said Libertyville Township Supervisor F.T. “Mike” Graham. Mr. Rockar also was an artist, using much of his free time to paint. Survivors include a daughter, Andrea Kent; a son, Douglas; a brother, Ted; and two grandchildren. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in Burnett-Dane Funeral Home, 120 W. Park Ave., Libertyville.
