The headline in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix could hardly have been simpler: Former Journalist Dies.
Bob Phillips, former publisher and editor of the Western Producer, likely would have found that headline suitable, being that it was economical and straight to the point.
He was proud to be a journalist and indeed his attention to that calling and the way it could best serve western Canadian farmers is an important part of this newspaper’s history.
Phillips, 84, died May 6. Although he retired from the Producer in 1986, there are several current staff members who remember him well and fondly. After retirement, he paid infrequent visits to see how things were going, and thus met just about everyone now working here.
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A familiar thump of a cane on the stair and a staccato tread down the hallway presaged a visit from Phillips, though his stay was invariably brief. He knew the pace of news all too well, but he also had projects of his own on the go, which likely put his available time into short supply. Among them was the writing and publishing of history books, church work and membership in a number of organizations including the Canadian Agricultural Economics Association, the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.
Phillips was curious about all manner of things, a hallmark of good journalists. After army service in the Second World War, he worked for United Press and Canadian Press, and then as research director for Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, before arriving at the Producer.
Because the paper was owned by Sask Pool at the time, Phillips had the unenviable task of trying to accommodate the owners while “dealing with regular noisy mutinies from reporters who objected to head office influence,” recalls Barry Wilson of the Producer’s Ottawa bureau
news. “I think his heart was with the reporters.”
Another Phillips admirer and former staff member, Elaine Shein, credits his influence for her decision to enrol in the school of journalism at the University of Regina, where Phillips served on the advisory committee.
“He always showed such a keen interest in everyone, always wanted to know how they were doing, what they were working on,” says Shein.
Phillips was behind the creation of the Producer’s Ottawa bureau
news and the enlargement of its bureau system that now includes full-time reporters in Calgary, Camrose, Regina, Brandon and Winnipeg, as well as Saskatoon. That system continues to allow the Producer to bring a more complete range of agricultural news to its readers.
