Bay Area Reporter founder Bob Ross dies

J K Dineen

Of The Examiner Staff

December 12, 2003

The cause of death was complications from diabetes, said Tom Horn, the newspaper's legal counsel and trustee of Ross' estate.

Ross had been ill for several months and was surrounded by friends at the time of his death. Horn emphasized that the weekly newspaper will continue publishing.

"We will continue to put out a quality product. There will be no immediate changes," Horn said.

Colleagues of Ross said he was a true leader in the field of journalism.

"Bob was a pioneer in gay journalism," said current news editor Cynthia Laird. "While some in the community may have disagreed with his political views, the newspaper has served as an important source of information for the community."

Supervisor Bevan Dufty said Ross was a "lion" of the gay community and his newspaper was a beacon of reporting on issues from AIDS to the abuse of speed in the gay nightclub scene.

"To me, the B.A.R. is The New York Times of the LBGT community nationally," Dufty said. "It sets the standards for a community paper that is unsurpassed."

Ross, who arrived in San Francisco in 1956 upon discharge from the U.S. Navy, founded the newspaper in 1971 because he disliked the independent weeklies serving the gay community, which he thought were filled with "vicious gossip."

Over the years, the newspaper grew in stature and influence within the local and national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. During the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the B.A.R. was often the only source of news about the disease before it was covered in mainstream publications.

The paper became well known for publishing prominent obituaries of those who had died from the disease, and included photographs. At the end of 1989, the paper published photographs of every San Franciscan who had died of AIDS that year - 604 photos altogether.

On Aug. 13, 1998, the paper ran a front-page story headlined "No obits" when, for the first time since the epidemic started, there were no obituaries in that week's issue. Media outlets picked up that news across the country.

"Okay, it was a party, but the party is over now for both the straight and the gay communities," Ross told the Times of London in 1985. "Every one of us here now has a friend or an acquaintance who has AIDS or who has died of it. I think that has made us a more caring community than perhaps one we might have been."

On another occasion, he compared the AIDS epidemic to "having an entire family wiped out simultaneously."

Allen White, writer and former B.A.R. reporter, called Ross "an icon of the gay community." When Supervisor Harvey Milk was assassinated, he had a list of gay community leaders he would like to see pick up his struggles - Ross was the second name on that list, White said.

In addition to the newspaper, Ross was a founding member of the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, and the Society for Individual Rights, both early groups that sought to increase civil rights for gays and lesbians.

He was a founding member of the former Operation Concern [now New Leaf: Services for Our Community], a community mental health service. He was on the board of the AIDS Emergency Fund and a director of the Gay Olympic Games. He served on the San Francisco Ballet Board of Trustees for many years and was a director of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Board 22 years.

A memorial service is being planned for January at the Herbst Theatre.

The Bay Area Reporter contributed to this report.

Source:http://www.sfexaminer.com/templates/story.cfm?displaystory=1&storyname=121203n_ross