Robert Dowling dies: The former editor of The Hollywood Reporter turned 83

Robert Joseph “Bob” Dowling, former publisher and editor-in-chief of The Hollywood Reporter Died 17 years ago on December 30 after a short illness. He turned 83.

Born on September 16, 1939, on New York’s Long Island, Dowling was abandoned by his birth mother and spent his first three years in a series of foster homes before finally being adopted. Dowling believed that the sense of discomfort this created in him would enhance his lifelong ability to instinctively recognize motivations and quickly assess situations.

Dowling was a born salesman. As he described in his 2019 memoir “My Life…and Then Some” Sales became second nature to him as he was able to empathize with the other side of the business.

In his twenties he began publishing magazines and became the editor and publisher of several publications, including American drugstore, high-tech marketing, menswear and Sports Marketing News. As he was the first to admit, he knew little about the industry he was in at the time. “I always brought something to market or improved something,” he once said.

Dowling joined The Hollywood Reporter in September 1988 as president before being appointed publisher and editor-in-chief of what was said to be the city’s second biggest showbiz. Daily variation. He moved to Los Angeles with his family from Westport, CT to take the job despite having no experience in the entertainment field or an understanding of how the business worked.

Dowling threw himself into the job by scheduling appointments with film, television, music and live entertainment executives during his freshman year. He taught himself from the inside out and bombarded those who ran the store with endless questions to find out what they knew.

A series of innovations, special editions and events led by Dowling, including a significant expansion of international coverage, led to THR Not only achieve equality with diversity but in many ways surpasses its perception, both editorially and financially. A publication in urgent need of revision before his arrival, it gained respectability in the last decade of his tenure, which ended in 2005.

One of Dowling’s proudest accomplishments was his commitment to an online presence for The reporter 1995 with the establishment of THR. comthe first daily entertainment retailer to have its own website three years earlier Diversity. com started Found it again THR and continues to serve millions of unique monthly users.

“Bob and I knew each other, and a while after he took over as a reporter, he called me and asked if he could come and talk to our staff,” recalls veteran publicist Stan Rosenfield. “He had a copy of The Reporter from that day and a computer. He held up the newspaper and said, “This is how we reported the news today.” He turned on the computer and said, “So we’ll bring the news tomorrow.” If you put all the people who reinvented the wheel in one room, Bob Dowling would be there.

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A second success Dowling was rightly proud of THR‘s special issue published on September 12, 2001, the day after 9/11 when editors pulled out all the stops to print a 16-page ad-free newspaper, produced in a flash amid national chaos and devastation. There was only one TV in the newsroom at the time.

Of moral character, integrity and kindness, Dowling was well-liked, especially by his co-workers. while you work at THR In the late 1990s, this reporter discovered that he had a closet full of expensive champagne that he had received as a gift. After hearing his generosity, the next morning I found a bottle of Cristal on my desk with a sweet note of my achievement. I will never forget him.

Dowling is survived by his beloved wife Juanita, with whom he was 56; his three children and their spouses: Rob (Diane) Dowling, Michael (Gia) Dowling and Matthew (Anna) Dowling; and seven grandchildren: PJ, Larissa, Lena, Devan, Ella, Miles and Radley.

The commemoration order is still pending.