Robert Clarke “Bob” Blair

Robert Clarke “Bob” Blair died peacefully in Salt Lake City on January 20, 2025 at the age of 102. A native of Virginia, Bob’s southern roots ran deep but he spent most of his life in Utah.

Bob was born in Atlanta, Georgia on April 8, 1922, to Mae Clarke and McPherson Blair. Shortly after his birth, the family returned to their native Virginia, and eventually settled in Staunton, Virginia, where Bob spent the rest of his youth. After graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1939, he attended a local business college until it became obvious that he had no talent for or interest in things commercial. A letter from the college president to his parents confirmed this.

That was the beginning of a college career marked by one-year stints at several higher education institutions: University of Alabama, Centre College of Kentucky (expelled for misconduct), the University of New Mexico, and finally, the University of Montana, where he graduated in 1946 with a degree in journalism. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and editor of the University of Montana college newspaper.

Soon after arriving in Missoula, Bob met his college sweetheart Alice Drum, who also worked on the newspaper as its business manager. The couple married in Missoula in 1946, committing to a loving partnership that lasted 73 years.

After college, Bob worked as a general reporter at the Billings Gazette for one year, and in 1947 the couple moved to Salt Lake City, where Bob began a 40-year career at the Salt Lake Tribune. During the 1950s and 60s, he worked as a general reporter, a rewrite man on the news desk and editor of the Society page. He then served for more than ten years as editor of the Tribune’s editorial page, where he articulated the Tribune’s position regarding many historic events, including the Vietnam War, the Watergate hearings, the Saturday Night massacre, and President Nixon’s resignation. He was a member of the reporting team that won the Tribune’s first Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

After Bob retired from the Tribune in 1985, he and Alice moved to St. George, where his second life began. He spent more than 30 years pursuing his passion for hiking, mainly in southern Utah but also globally, including Nepal, Patagonia, and Siberia. In the early years of retirement, he helped fund his travels by working as a janitor in St. George’s only bar, the Blarney Stone. As an original member of St. George’s Outback Hiking Club, Bob was part of an eclectic group that explored the little-known nooks and crannies of southern Utah and had many outlandish adventures.

During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Bob and Alice raised a family of thirteen children in Salt City. He was preceded in death by Alice and their son, Robert “Clarke” Blair, Jr, who passed away in December 2024. His surviving children are James MacPherson “Mack” Blair (Rosemary), Milly Boren, Hilary Nitka (Ben), Marilou Blair, Elissa Blair, Bill Blair (Shirley Hawley), Scott Blair (Victoria), Betsy Blair (Leland Beatty), Maddy Chadwell (Rick), Kitty Klekas (Tony), Ginger Anderson (Fred), Alex Blair, and Francie Peters (Mike). He had 27 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren—too numerous to name but loved dearly.

Bob returned to Salt Lake City from St. George following Alice’s death in 2019. The family wishes to thank the many caregivers at Sunrise of Sandy and Solstice Hospice who took such loving care of him in his last years.

To honor Bob’s memory, help keep journalism alive with a donation to the Salt Lake Tribune. Or, in lieu of charitable contributions, just eat dessert.

A celebration of life will be on Friday, January 31 from 6-8 PM at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 South 900 East, Salt Lake City. Guests are encouraged to use parking and entrance located on the north side of the building. He will be laid to rest the following day, Saturday, February 1 at 2:00 PM at Washington City Cemetery, 300 Park View Drive, Washington.