RETIRED UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS JOURNALISM PROFESSOR PASSES AWAY AT AGE 68

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Robert Carey, retired journalism professor from the University of Arkansas, passed away Monday, July 8, from a sudden heart attack.

Carey was appointed associate professor in print journalism at the U of A in 1980 and retired from the U of A this past May. His specialties included news writing and feature writing, ethics, and law.

He received his bachelor's degree in English literature in 1956 and his master's degree in journalism in 1962 from the University of Oklahoma.

Prior to his tenure at the U of A, Carey worked as a reporter and editor of United Press International for 18 years, where much of his time was spent putting together in-depth feature material for national, and on occasion, international distribution.

He worked for UPI in Little Rock, Baton Rouge, La., New Orleans and New York.

He covered the emerging civil rights struggle in the South in the 60s and most of the manned space flights in the Apollo lunar program. Along the way wrote about many of the personalities involved, including Martin Luther King Jr., George Corley Wallace, Stokely Carmichael, Buzz Aldrin, Gus Grissom and Gordon Cooper.

He was a member of the UPI reporting team that covered the 1976 GOP National Convention and covered Norman Mailer's mayoral campaign in NYC. Many of these stories appeared in the feature and magazine sections of most major newspapers and magazine supplements in the United States, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe, Newsday, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Arkansas Gazette.

He wrote stories on Dr. Benjamin Spock, Elvis Presley, J. William Fulbright, Orval Faubus, Darrel Royal, Sidney Moncrief and John Lindsay to name a few. He also wrote on the incidence of suicide among members of the medical profession, crime prevention in the suburbs, the attempted resurgence of the KKK and the people story of rural poverty.

Carey was the Gannett Teaching Fellow in July 1981, and his stories were published five times in "Selections," UPI's annual collection of its best domestic and foreign reporting and writing in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975.

After joining the UA journalism faculty, Carey wrote a number of op-ed columns for the Arkansas Gazette on topics ranging from the Chicago Cubs to being an ex-journalist.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m., Friday, July 12, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville.

Cards may be sent to:
Judy Carey
2623 Elizabeth Avenue
Fayetteville, AR 72703

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be made to the
University of Arkansas Lemke Department of Journalism.

Contacts

 Patsy Watkins, department of journalism chair, 479-575-3601, pwatkins@uark.edu

Jay Nickel, Assistant Manager of Media Relations, 479-575-5555, jnickel@uark.edu

 

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