Robert S. Gallagher, a former Marine who stood over 6 foot 4 and weighed about 250, was an imposing presence in the newsroom, former colleagues said.
The longtime newspaper reporter, editor and consultant who loved to solve crossword puzzles while smoking cigars always amazed people with his knowledge and ability to motivate, former colleagues said.
“He constantly challenged us. There was a real energy in the newsroom when he was here,” said Mike Blecha, opinion page editor at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, where Gallagher was executive editor from 1978 to ’84.
Mr. Gallagher, 68, of Arlington Heights, died Friday, April 26, in Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago.
His career started when he was in high school writing freelance articles for his hometown newspaper, the Red Bank Register in New Jersey.
Born in Morganton, N.C., and raised in New Jersey, he graduated from Red Bank High School and served in the Marines in the Pacific from 1953 to ’56. He received a bachelor’s degree from Hiram College in Ohio and became a Register reporter in 1959.
He later worked for the Jersey Journal in Jersey City and American Heritage magazine, where he wrote profiles of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, feminist Alice Paul and former Chicago Bear Harold “Red” Grange.
In the 1970s and ’80s he was an editor at the La Crosse Tribune in Wisconsin, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Detroit News and the Meriden Record-Journal in Connecticut.
“Bob was a dynamic force in our newsroom,” Press-Gazette reporter Sean Schultz said. “He was not looking for complacency. He elevated our paper and the standards reporters placed on themselves.”
From 1983 to ’84, he served as president of the Wisconsin Associated Press.
From the early to mid-1990s, Mr. Gallagher was editor at the Bethlehem Globe Times in Pennsylvania and publisher of the West Bend Daily News in Wisconsin. He led workshops for the Inland Press Association in the Chicago area and American Press Institute in Reston, Va., and he consulted for Lakeland Newspapers in Lake County, Ill.
He retired in 1996 but returned to journalism in 2000 to be the first editor of CityTalk, a biweekly magazine in Chicago.
“He had a big challenge in front of him, but he ran a tight ship and pulled it all together,” said CityTalk production director Denise Kowalski.
He left CityTalk last summer.
A voracious reader, Mr. Gallagher could retain a vast amount of knowledge, said his wife, Bonnie. “We never needed a tour guide on our trips to Europe,” she said.
Other survivors include two daughters, Roban Smith and Tracy Luber; a son, Geoffrey Petrie; and five grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in Lauterburg and Oehler Funeral Home, 2000 E. Northwest Highway, Arlington Heights. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. in St. James Catholic Church, 831 N. Arlington Heights Rd., Arlington Heights.
