Motorsports writer Randy Hallman remembers Bob Brown, photographer for the 1981-1982 book, "Stock Car Racing: The Other Side of the Fence." http://racingvirginia.com/news/2017/10/1/randy-hallman-hallman-bob-jones-our-book-grand-national-stock-car-racing-the-other-side-of-the-fence.aspx
When Perkins A. Gormus Jr. first saw him, photographer Bob Jones had replaced “a lovely assistant” and, strapped to a spinning wheel, was shooting photos while a man hurled knives into the wheel all around him.
“He was on TV. That got my attention,” recalled Gormus, retired director of photography and photo editor at Richmond Newspapers Inc.
“I thought, ‘This guy’s a real go-getter, to let that guy throw knives at him. I thought he was somebody who had a lot of initiative.”
During the late 1960s, when there was an opening on the RNI photography staff, Gormus told Mr. Jones about it and recommended him to his boss.
Robert Thomas “Bob” Jones Jr., who spent about 10 years at The Richmond News Leader and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and whose work as a journalist and corporate advertising photographer took him around the world, died Monday. He was 76.
Family will receive friends from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Bliley Funeral Homes’ Central Chapel, 3801 Augusta Ave. in Richmond.
A private family memorial, with military honors, will be held Friday.
A Petersburg native, Mr. Jones served five years in the Navy as a reconnaissance photographer and attended Richmond Professional Institute, now part of Virginia Commonwealth University.
When Gormus first saw him, Mr. Jones recently had returned from living in California, where he worked for the Los Angeles Times’ Van Nuys Bureau, and had gotten a job as a cameraman for Channel 8.
“Bob Jones and I worked together in the ’70s, before he left the paper to go into a very successful career in commercial photography,” wrote Richmond Times-Dispatch senior photographer Bob Brown in an email. “When he was a member of the photo staff here, he was part of a team of young, talented photojournalists that included David Alan Harvey (who later went to National Geographic), Perk Gormus, Gary Burns, Amir Pishdad, myself and others who challenged each other every day to be the best.
“At that time, in the early-mid 1970s, we had one of, if not THE best, photo staff of any newspaper in the country.”
Mr. Jones’ work “stood out for its simplicity and graphic content, and he was a consistent contest winner,” Brown wrote.
He won the Virginia News Photographers Association’s Photographer of the Year Award five times and received more than 200 awards for his work in Virginia.
Gormus recalled, “his strong point was general everyday photos — news, fashion, sports, things we shot on a regular basis.”
Gormus and Mr. Jones together covered Operation Homecoming — the return of American prisoners of war from North Vietnam prisons to Norfolk and Portsmouth in February 1973 after peace accords ended the Vietnam War.
Mr. Jones left the newspapers about 1978 and did advertising and commercial photography, and produced documentaries for years, retiring about three years ago, but still working some from his home studio.
In 2010, he was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.
During his later years, he bought land west of the Huguenot Bridge on the James River that is now known as Jones Landing and formed a boat club whose members use the landing.
He was preceded in death by a daughter, Catherine Elizabeth Jones, who died in an automobile crash in San Diego, Calif., while on a trip with a friend.
Survivors include his wife, Beth Jones; three sons, Rob Jones, Brittain Jones and Jon Michael Jones; and a grandson.
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Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va. USA
Dave,
Is Bob Brown/Bob Jones the same person?
NASCAR race driver Dick Brooks and Richard Brooks is the same person.
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va. USA
Dennis, Bob Brown and Bob Jones were both photographers for the two Richmond newspapers. Bob Brown for many years was the state government photographer for the Times Dispatch and News-Leader, covering the state legislature and Virginia governors. You'll notice near the end of the obituary story you posted that Bob Brown is quoted talking about Bob Jones.
