Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Bob Stokes had an extraordinary background, including getting wounded as a combat journalist covering the Vietnam War. He was a very respected, if not revered journalist and his colleagues at The Asbury Park Press who cannot attend his memorial service wanted his family to have and possibly share our comments.
E Donald Lass
Former Editor and Co-owner of The Asbury Park Press
“Bob was a personal friend. In fact, he was in my wedding party in 1960! Ironically he died on my birthday this year. When Bob was in Vietnam he wrote stunning articles for the Press. He dug under the surface of this ugly war, which was uncommon at the time. In the days before “Platoon” and “Hamburger Hill”! Bob later wrote a book about the son of Errol Flynn, who left the riches of Palm Beach to become a photographer during the Vietnam war. He was killed, I believe in Cambodia. In my opinion that storyline was worth a motion picture. Bob left Saigon after our troops had withdrawn. Not that many years ago Bob returned to Vietnam with other correspondents. He wrote a piece about that trip for the Press, which I remember was inspired by Si Liberman (Sunday Editor).
Stokes was a maverick of sorts. He spent his entire career as a writer/journalist, always seeking a story that others were ignoring and that were important to the better good! I lost contact with him about midway in his career, but caught up with him when he ventured back to Vietnam with correspondents who were with him during that time. Let’s not forget him.”
Si Liberman
Former Sunday Editor
“He was a classy writer.
How well I remember him and Helen Drusine, who was also a Press staffer. Both wanted to be in the thick of major breaking news and writing about it - no nitty gritty local news coverage for them.
Don Lass felt he was in the same league as the famed war correspondent Peter Arnett, and treated him accordingly. Bob and Arnett became friends in Vietnam and Bob filed stories to The Press from Vietnam after the war and was instrumental in getting Arnett to be the main speaker at an AP gathering of editors after the war.
Don held him in higher regard than any other staffer. Returning from New York once and scheduled to attend some important event in the Asbury area, according to newsroom scuttlebutt
Bob wasn’t appropriately dressed so Don loaned him one of his blue suits. It was Helen who selected the suit!”
Ray Tuers
Former Senior Editor
“Bob I remember as one of the finest Press writers of his day. He was a talented story-teller and produced compelling stories born of strong reportorial skills.Like many top journalists, he wasn’t always easy for editors to manage. But he had a pleasant personality and could often dissuade copy editors from making changes in his writing. His popularity among readers was proof that his choice of words and phrases was faultless. “
Jim Manion
Former Reporter and close friend
“Bob was a rough contemporary of (owner) Don lass, who recruited him to The Press in the early 1970s after his stints covering Vietnam and the Chicago Seven trial for Newsweek and for Life Magazine. While covering Vietnam, Bob went to Australia, where he met and soon married his first wife, Marilyn, with whom he had three children. A native of Neptune and Manasquan, Bob shared his high school
Years with Jack Nicholson. One of his most memorable 1970s stories was about the emergence along the Jersey Shore of the Pagans motorcycle club. SiLiberman was a huge promoter of Bob’s blockbusters. When his marriage to Marilyn dissolved, Bob moved from Lakewood to Monroe Towers where he picked up with a young sIngle reporter (me) who had also moved to the then trendy high rise and the pair frequented Shore spots from Matty’s, (the famed APP hangout) to the Empire bar to the 3am closures in Monmouth County. By the mid 1970s Bob began dating Helen Drusine
and they soon married and had two daughters after they left The Press and moved to New York for various other media jobs.
Pam Gallagher
Former Fashion Editor and Sunday Features Editor
“I heard about Bob Stokes passing from Jim Manion, who told me two years ago Stokesy was in a nursing home happily remarried. Manion and I were dating during the Stokes years. Don, Stokes, Manion and Mike Schoenweis used to shoot hoops at the Y after work and then we’d go on to Matty’s.
Stokes war correspondent creds made him an iconic and glamorous figure at The Press back in the day. He married Helen Drusine and some of the guys were threatened by Bob’s star quality and Helen’s talent and assertiveness.
When Manion emailed the pic of Bob in his photographer’s vest I wrote back “Stokes was hot.”
Perhaps borderline inappropriate in the age of ‘woke’ but I picture Bob up there smiling and not the least offended.”
Jody Calendar
Former Deputy Executive Editor
(Then young reporter)
“Bob was a hell of a reporter and writer that served as an incredible role model, particularly his legendary talent of getting his stories through the desk as written. He had ink in his veins and the swagger to match, a true journalist’s journalist.
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