The Bay Area has lost another venerable journalist.
Rollin Post, who covered both local, state, and national politics for over four decades died Monday at his Marin County home in Corte Madera from complications arising from Alzheimer's disease, his family announced.
Here's the obit in the LA Times.
I will mostly remember Post from his days at KRON in the 1980's and mid 90's when he did political commentary. His work drew local and national praise and his analysis was pretty spot on most of the time.
Moreover, Post, who worked alongside the esteemed anchor, Evan White, made politics interesting, even for those who didn't really care for the inner workings of Sacramento and Washington.
Post knew his stuff. He had sources up the ying-yang and his commentary and review made for must-see local TV. I didn't get to see a lot of his KPIX work, but do recall his KQED tenure.
Rollin Post: Nice man, great reporter, and first-rate journalist.
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thus proving that even the brightest, most intellectually engaged people ..can still be victims of Alzheimer's. Life well lived Rollin. rip
ReplyDeleteI remember his start at KPIX and watching as a kid just another reporter in a men in black suit for years. He was of the "serious news" era.
ReplyDeleteI never would have guessed he would morph into kind of an impish laugh guy and let his hair grow out..a bit. Then the news guru he became was more of his evolution. He had some good ones where the Politico gave a "C'mon Alan" preanswer. That's a bigger compliment then "good question".
81? That went fast.
"thus proving that even the brightest, most intellectually engaged people ..can still be victims of Alzheimer's. "
ReplyDeleteDUH! - First of all, it doesn't prove anything. Second, no one has ever suggested anything to the contrary.
when anon states that" no one has ever suggested anything to the contrary" anon knows not of what she speaks. Well known gerontologists and clinicians urge everyone..especially those with genetic reason to worry(SEE PARENTAGE) to continue to study, read, engage, keep your mind pathways as active as possible...to learn more..do some googling..you can forestall the earlier symptoms of various types of degenerative dementia...by taking on challenging new mental tasks as you get older..but please...don't do it. Would you like me to cite some studies? I'd be happy to.
ReplyDeleteI remember Post for his stint at both KQED and KPIX. He was always the epitome of what you wanted in a TV newsman: serious, curious, thorough, objective, articulate, and of course professional. Up and coming TV news wanna-bes should study tapes of this guy to understand what makes a good newscaster. Unfortunately the dim-wits who run most of the TV news shops these days would rather hire bubbled headed bimbos and clueless shouters who unfortunately populate too many of the stations.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm just watching the end of the Brewers playoff win over the D-Backs...what is it with the ridiculous questions asked by the bimbos down by the dugouts who are hired more for their looks than for broadcasting ability. And they also all too frequently have to be asking the standard dumb questons: "how does it feel?" after a team wins on a walk off single. Poor Sam Ryan of TNT just embarrassed herself by having 1.) Prince Fielder walk away from her after she asked him on live TV to do an interview and say, "I can't talk right now," and then Prince proceeded to immediately walk over and do an interview with his buddy Pedro Gomez on ESPN.
Then Ryan tried to get Nyger Morgan (SF Native) who got the game winning hit to talk, and before he did she stuck the mike in his face as he was screaming to the crowd for everyone to hear..
"Fu.....yes!" Nice job Sam! Then she refers to him by his twitter handle and he answers one or two questions with one or two word answers and then walks off. I wish the people who make the decisions about who gets jobs would stop hiring these nit-wit bimbo women who know nothing about baseball (hello Amy Gutierrez of Comcast) and ask some of the dumbest, most ridiculous questions like clueless teenage valley-girls. I turn down the TV sound whenever these airheaded fools come on!
I recently watched "No Direction Home" the Martin Scorsese documentary of Bob Dylan. They included a late 60's SF press conference and their was Rollin asking Dylan questions..
ReplyDeletePlease, no reason to be so confrontational. I thought the original post made a good point about the unfairness of this horrible disease. More importantly, I remember Rollin very well as the most engaged political correspondent in the Bay Area for many, many years. I had not thought of Rollin for many years but I was saddened to hear that he has left us.
ReplyDeleteYes, he was a real pro. I especially remember his work at KQED.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tribute to him.
Well,It is out there that keeping your mind active can slow the start of the disease. But,just as eating blueberrys everyday is supposed to prevent certain cancers..its no sure thing or cure by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteWe get old and die. Active mind,or not.
"Would you like me to cite some studies? I'd be happy to. "
ReplyDeleteYes, please cite some studies.
Here are some for starters:
ReplyDeleteRush Memory and Aging Project...Chicaco
University of Virginia School of Medicine..
Steven De Kosly..
yes..everyone dies whether they eat blueberries of wear burberry as my mother did. She died from Alzheimer's after nine years of decline, what Nancy Reagan has wisely called the long goodbye.
a little fact:an exact genetic predilection not as yet fully demonstrated.
Alzheimer's disease ..they can't be sure unless they autopsy the deceased..It could be another form of dementia.
MOst folks don't opt for an autopsy after such an extended and difficult illness for their loved one.
the Yale and Penn med schools dissected the brains of 113 people who had died supposedly from Alzheimer's disease, they found that 7% actually had the human variant of mad cow disease.. Same symptoms..just much much quicker.
I know hamburgers taste good.
One of the saner voices when it came to political analysis. He is missed.
ReplyDelete