Shaw covered the Arkansas gubernatorial election in 1970 in which Dale Bumpers defeated former Gov. Orval Faubus in the Democratic runoff and then Republican incumbent Winthrop Rockefeller.
Robbie also recalls his father being excited to give legendary Arkansas football coach Frank Broyles a ride but says Broyles slept the entire trip and his dad didn’t have a chance to ask him all the questions he wanted to.
As AP Correspondent in Memphis from 1973 to 1975, stories Shaw covered included a hearing in which James Earl Ray sought to withdraw his guilty plea in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Named correspondent in Jackson in 1975, Shaw led the bureau’s coverage of the state capitol as well as the 1977 crash that killed three members of the Southern rock group Lynryd Skynyrd in Mississippi and the 1979 Category 4 Hurricane Frederic. He returned to Memphis as part of the team covering Elvis Presley’s death.
Robbie Shaw recalled how he and his sister, Erin Moore, couldn’t stay on the phone talking to friends long when they lived in Jackson because the family didn’t have call waiting. Once they did, he can remember answering an incoming call from then Gov. William Winter for his dad.
The Mississippi Legislature passed a resolution in 1984 recognizing Shaw’s promotion to Oklahoma City Chief of Bureau, saying it “represented one more step in a journalistic career which is marked by even-handed perceptive reporting.” The nod to “perceptive reporting” echoed a description from his earliest days.
Under Shaw’s leadership, the Oklahoma City team also covered a deadly bank robbery in Geronimo, the trial of Bill Patterson in the collapse of Penn Square Bank, and a fireworks factory explosion that killed 21.
The move to Indianapolis in 1989 took him to a busy news bureau with Fortune 500 companies and a major sports load that included the NFL Colts, the NBA Pacers and the Indianapolis 500, the granddaddy of motorsports racing.
Among other major Indiana stories covered during Shaw’s tenure was the April 8, 1990, death of Ryan White, the Kokomo teenager whose battle with AIDS was an ongoing national story. He became infected from a contaminated blood treatment and was denied the right to attend school. White was one of a handful of highly visible people who helped change the public perception of the disease.
The bureau also covered the trial of heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, who was convicted of rape in Indianapolis in 1992 and sentenced to six years in prison. He was released on parole after three years.
On Oct. 31, 1994, the staff covered the crash of American Eagle Flight 4184 in a field at Roselawn, Indiana, in which 68 people died.
He was named bureau chief in Little Rock in 1996 just days after President Bill Clinton won his second term. Shaw’s staff helped in the coverage of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s Whitewater investigation involving the president in his home state, along with the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones.
He also directed the Little Rock bureau’s 1999 coverage of the fatal crash of American Airlines Flight 1420 on a runway during a hailstorm.
Erin Moore says her father loved history. She can recall him talking about being at the airport in Little Rock in 1952 when Gen. Douglas MacArthur returned to his birthplace.
That love of history and sports along with an introduction to journalism by his high school teacher Katie Lou Russell helped shape Shaw’s future.
Moore said her father was always so humble, gracious, caring and a champion for people. She recalled how he once won a football signed by all the Dallas Cowboys but gave the ticket to the person seated next to him.
Shaw graduated from Little Rock University, which later became the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He served as the UALR alumnae president for two years.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Joyce Shaw, and his parents AG and Leola Shaw. Survivors include his sister, Betty Dent, of Maumelle, Ark.; son, Robbie, of North Little Rock; daughter Erin Moore (Dwight) of Flower Mound, Texas; grandchildren Allison Abromitis of Ocean Springs, Miss., Caitlin Moore Bowlus (Eric); Haley Moore; Ashlyn Moore, all of Flower Mound; Madison Shaw and Mason Shaw, both of North Little Rock and two great-granddaughters, Marin Joyce Bowlus and Bryliee Shaw, and a great-grandson expected in November.
Funeral will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 24, at Smith North Little Rock Funeral Home with graveside services at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Alexander, Arkansas. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 23.
Pallbearers will be Robbie Shaw, Haley Moore, Dwight Moore, Matt Karpoff, Eric Bowlus and Mason Shaw.
In honor of Robert's legacy, donations are being accepted to fund an advocacy group providing resources to families for managing their loved one's memory care journey.
Your memories of Robert Shaw
Jacqui Cook, who worked in the Indianapolis bureau from 1991-1994:
He was my very first boss in my very first "real" job after college - and he was perfectly suited for it. He made it clear from the start, in his stern-but-kind Arkansas voice, that this was the AP and I was going to work hard. He wasn't kidding - but I also learned so much working with him as the COB. He knew when to jump in and steer the story and, most often, how to stand back and let the staff do our jobs under his watchful eye. He read everything and never hesitated to point out what was good and what could have been better. There would always be red circles in the printed-out report from the night before so you could see the typos that found their way onto the wire!
But more than anything, I remember Robert as a true champion for his staff. When I wanted to go to the General Desk as my next stop, he did everything to make that happen. He introduced me to GEN people coming through Indy, he helped me write (and rewrite and rewrite) my application letter and, once I got there, he would check in just to see how it was going. He was a good man, through and through, and a wonderful mentor and boss for a youngster arriving in a new town to start a career. You don't find many people like Robert anymore. He's going to be missed.
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Doug Ferguson, AP Golf Writer:
Robert hired me as a legislative relief staffer in Oklahoma City in 1987 -- "We have white smoke," was what he said when he reached the dubious decision -- and was such a strong presence in the bureau. He was a pure journalist at heart, whether he was on the road meeting with members or stepping out of that corner office to oversee breaking news.
Teaching moments were not in short supply. Along with giving me an opportunity to work for the AP, he didn't just bury me on night broadcast. There was one week he sent me on the road for a series of features across Oklahoma to hone interview skills and observations and teach me about travel. "Check in with us at the end each day to let us know how it's going," he said. I went off to Hugo, the winter headquarters for the circus companies. I went to Krebs for a story on Italian immigrants who came to Oklahoma to mine coal and started a family restaurant (when people ask me for the best Italian I've had, I tell them Pete's Place in Krebs, Oklahoma. True), and an Amish community that made carriages. It was a worthwhile trip, and when I returned to report how it went, Robert waited until I was done jabbering and said firmly under that moustache, "It would have been nice to know this last week. We never heard from you." The message: I forgot to check in.
I worked under him for two years before he took over as COB in Indianapolis, but the lessons stayed with me for the next 30.
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Owen Canfield, former Oklahoma City sports editor:
Robert hired me in Oklahoma City in 1984 and, a year later, named me sports editor for Oklahoma. I went on to cover five Olympics, and several Final Fours and NCAA basketball regionals in 19 years with the AP. I'm indebted to Robert for that.
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Patrick Casey, former Oklahoma City staffer:
Robert hired me out of the Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock where I was working as an assistant city editor to join the AP in Oklahoma City in January 1987. That buro had covered the Edmond, Okla., post office massacre with distinction the previous summer and I was excited that Robert picked me to join his staff. Robert patiently taught me the AP way of doing things and was a stickler for details. He was also excellent at correctly making crucial calls during elections, tornadoes and other major stories. Robert later left for Indianapolis but he set a standard that I never forgot. RIP Robert.
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Rochelle Hines, former Oklahoma City AP staffer:
Robert Shaw helped me get on as an intern at The Associated Press in 1988. He was so kind to me, he even gave me a ride home a few times, since I was a very broke student without a car. I am so grateful to him for his assistance, because without it, I wouldn't have had a career at the AP.
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Elaine Hooker, a former bureau chief and executive in AP Membership:
Robert Shaw was a joy to work with when I was in Newspaper Membership. He has such a gentle manner and was incredibly knowledgeable and hard-working. The members in the various states where he worked were indeed fortunate to have Robert as a newsman and as their ally.
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Lindel Hutson, former Oklahoma City Bureau Chief
I first saw Robert Shaw in action on May 16, 1968. That was the day after a killer tornado ripped through Jonesboro, AR where I was a college student and part-time reporter/photographer for the local daily, The Sun.
Robert was working from the newspaper and I was impressed that someone could hammer out a story and dictate it as quickly as he did. Watching Robert that day helped me decide I wanted to work for AP.
Fast forward four years. I was hired by AP in Little Rock and the first person to step up and help out the new guy was Robert. If I had questions, he had answers. If I was frustrated, he picked me up. I was happy for him when he moved to Jackson as correspondent, but disappointed to see him go.
I was news editor in Indianapolis when Robert was named bureau chief. We only worked together a few short weeks before I replaced him in Oklahoma City as COB.
It was an easy transition for me: Robert, as expected, had things squared away in OKC. We talked often, and those conversations were invaluable. It was like the old days in Arkansas. He was there when I needed him.
He was intense. He was professional. He was a top rate newsman and administrator, one of the gifted people who made AP tick.
The time I spent with Robert was special. I feel privileged to say he was my friend and mentor. I will miss him.
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John Lumpkin, former AP Vice President:
“My friend Robert was as pure an AP stalwart as anyone could have been. He went about the critical dual responsibilities of the bureau chiefs of his era - leading the news report and securing AP’s financial resources - with an idealistic fervor. He was comfortable in his understated way with an unconventional AP corporate director in his territory and the wire editor at a local paper. I never heard him say a negative word about his staff, the AP members in his territory, or (wow) NY management. Who among us can say that about ourselves?”
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Tim O’Neil, who now lives in St. Louis:
Robert ran the AP office in Jackson with a quiet fatherly exasperation. As with most AP offices, workdays were hectic, filled with the obligatory features -- radio splits, the noonday chicken slaughter report -- mixed in with chasing breaking stories in remote places by phone. Robert was a skilled reporter and writer, somebody who already had been there and done that, which gave us confidence in his leadership. He was an old-time player-manager, jumping in and working the stories of the day as a fellow professional, offering advice or issuing directions only as necessary.
When he'd get frustrated with a challenge while writing, he'd sit back, scratch the top of his head and then plunge back into his furious style of typing. Sometimes, when a funny thought struck him, he'd stop, laugh heartily and get back to work.
He was our friend. He joined the rest of the Jackson news crowd after work at the old George Street Grocery, bartended by a tall, quiet man nicknamed Cotton. We all drank and smoked more than we should have. I'd visit his family now and then, and his wife, Joyce, became my Mississippi surrogate mother.
Robert did not hesitate to tell us when we made mistakes, but he also was quick with encouragement and praise when deserved. He also was profoundly merciful. When I applied at the Jackson office and managed to flunk the AP psychology test by putting the answers on the wrong part of the page, he called me while I was visiting my family back home in St. Louis and told me to drive pronto to the bureau downtown and take it again. The boss there was waiting for me.
And when he probably should have fired me, he didn't.
One story proves that point. I was about 24, as was the other junior member at AP Jackson, We were on a softball team with guys from the two Jackson newspapers, and there was a big game one Sunday morning in 1975. We both went into the office early, cleaned out the Jackson paper, prepared the Monday AMs report and the radio splits, and contacted Atlanta to make sure it all was ready in the regional computer. We headed for our game.
We ambled back into the office to find Shaw at the phone and terminal, desperately trying to catch up with UPI on a national story. While we played softball, a man walked up to the pulpit of a big church on the Gulf Coast that broadcast its services live on TV. He had a pistol and his dog. He shoved the pastor aside and began a rambling speech. He shot the dog and, I believe, shot himself.
New York general desk repeatedly called AP Jackson and got nobody, then called Robert at home. He hustled down to office and began trying to recover. When we walked in, he stared at us for a moment, told us to get to work and got back to his typing. Side by side, we worked the phones and assembled a story.
Afterward or the next morning, he told us calmly but clearly that we had better never, ever be that stupid again. Spared by his forgiveness, we both remained with the AP and managed lifelong careers in the news business.
I have no memory of how the game turned out.
The bottom line is that he was the best boss I ever had.
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Jeff Rowe, former Jackson newsman:
Robert was the fastest news writer I ever saw. At the Jackson, Mississippi bureau, a cramped concrete cavern in the basement of an office building, he would dash in from covering something at the legislature, shirt half untucked, tie yanked loose and notebook in hand so as not to waste any time taking it out of his pocket. He would spend 30 seconds flipping through his notes and then type like a man possessed, taking just fleeting pauses to check his notes. I'd not seen anyone that fast; all these years later, I still have not witnessed anyone close to Robert's speed.
Robert -- never "Bob," "Robby" or any other shortened form -- was the correspondent, the lead of our five-person bureau. He could be demanding, given to wall-pounding when frustrated, and lacked the diplomatic skills expected of leaders today. But he was born to be a reporter and set an example for me, the most junior staffer, in asking open-ended questions, always in a professional and respectful fashion, and then writing with precision and focus.
Typos were a particular annoyance of Robert's and his keen attention to them was a lesson I carried throughout my journalism career.
Robert greatly enjoyed after-hours socializing and talking about journalism at a bar near the bureau and capitol and frequented by Clarion-Ledger reporters.
It was clear to me from day one in the Jackson bureau that Robert was completely dedicated to the ideals and mission of the Associated Press. That mattered more than perhaps he knew -- it reinforced and elevated the worth of our work every day.
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Bob Seavey, former Indianapolis newsman
I was lucky that Robert Shaw was the COB when I worked in Indy in the early 90s, and he set a nice tone for rest of my AP career. Friendly, good natured, a great guy who loved to talk about journalism fundamentals, spiced up by his adventures with AP Little Rock. He once invited me to an Indianapolis Colts game - taking pity on a poor newsman but also making him feel valued as an employee. He’ll be missed by many.
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Mike Smith, former Indiana AP Statehouse Correspondent
To this day, I am still doing what I love to do – writing and reporting – in the place of my dreams, Montana, with the foundation I got at AP, especially the early years under Lindel Hutson and Robert Shaw. In this business, that is gold.
Robert not only hired me on permanently in Indianapolis, he sent me to the Statehouse as the No. 2 reporter and shortly after that, made me the correspondent. Robert was just a damn solid newsman, and though naturally demanding, he backed his reporters 100 percent at all times.
I can’t recall the big breaking event, but it was national news coming from Indy, and I was on the desk trying to answer questions from an editor on the general desk. When that turned to shouting from New York, and I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, Robert grabbed the phone from my hand and just blasted whoever it was on the other end.
He not only defended me, he told the person to get off our backs and let us gather the news, that we were doing a damn good job, and they would know details within seconds after we knew them. I can’t believe I can’t remember the event, but I will never forget that as an example of an editor or bureau chief backing his troops. THAT was Robert Shaw.
I also remember that Robert, being an old Statehouse hound himself, LOVED to talk state politics when I was in the bureau. He’d ask me into his office, ask for details about what was going on at the time, and share recollections from his days. And I always took something away, usually perspective, that I could use going forward.
From the moment he took a chance on me and hired me, Robert Shaw was in my corner, and helped instill in me a confidence in this profession I still have today.
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Comments from Hank Ackerman in 2005 upon Robert’s 40th anniversary:
“During those days we shared many years ago in Mississippi and Louisiana, you worked diligently at leading a strong news team in Jackson covering elections, hurricanes, errant governors, and newspaper takeovers. As a result of your efforts, your excellent writing, strong leadership, and your collegial approach, AP came to dominate in the newsrooms and broadcast stations throughout the state. Robert Shaw, Jackson Correspondent, and his team were highly recognized by all.”