[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 62 (Monday, April 27, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4748-S4749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM TOBIN

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I wish to honor a pioneer of Alaska 
journalism who did much during his 62-year career to make his adopted 
State of Alaska what it is today. William J. ``Bill'' Tobin died 
earlier this month at age 81, following a year-long battle with cancer.
  Bill served 2 years in the U.S. Army during World War II from 1943 to 
1945. He started his journalism career in 1948 working for the 
Associated Press in Indianapolis, IN, while still in college at

[[Page S4749]]

Butler University. After Indianapolis, he worked for the Associated 
Press in New York City and Louisville, KY. In 1956, he was moved by the 
AP to cover Alaska news from Juneau, then the territorial capital, 
staying until after statehood in 1960. He was Alaska's first national 
resident newsman. He finished his 17-year AP career as the assistant 
bureau chief in Baltimore, MD, from 1960 to 1961 and as the bureau 
chief for the State of Montana from 1961 to 63. Bill and his wife 
missed the beauty and excitement of Alaska, and in 1963, he began a 45-
year career with Anchorage's then largest newspaper, the Anchorage 
Times, and later with the Voice of the Times editorial and internet 
publication. He retired in 2008.
  During his time Mr. Tobin covered or edited stories on every major 
event in Alaskan history. Stories of his efforts to publish the Times 
in the aftermath of the Good Friday earthquake of March 27, 1964--at a 
revised 9.2 on the Richter scale, the largest quake every measured in 
North America--are legendary. The paper was published even though 
downtown Anchorage was literally destroyed. He edited stories on the 
discovery of oil on Alaska's North Slope in 1968, covered and edited 
debate in Congress on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and 
edited stories on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act in 1974 
that permitted construction of the 800-mile pipeline that to this day 
moves 13 percent of the Nation's domestic oil production to market.
  Mr. Tobin's career spanned several legislative milestones including 
the passage of a law that created a 200-mile exclusive fishery 
management zone around Alaska, the passage of the Alaska lands bill 
that placed 131 million acres of Alaska--more than a third of the 
State--into parks and protected land status in 1980, and a career that 
saw Alaska become a major training and forward deployment base for the 
U.S. military.
  His official obituary said it best when it noted that ``he was an 
ardent supporter of the U.S. military and men and women in uniform'' 
and that Bill was ``a tireless champion of Alaska and its potential.'' 
His Saturday and later Sunday columns covered the personal side of life 
in Alaska for decades. The editorials that he and Anchorage Times 
Publisher Robert Atwood wrote and published did much to turn Anchorage, 
which at statehood had a population of several thousand, into the 
State's largest city with a population today of more than 275,000.
  Bill was an active civic leader, serving over time as a board member 
or president of nearly 40 community organizations in Anchorage. At his 
death, he was active as associate publisher of the Roman Catholic 
diocese newspaper, the Catholic Anchor, based in Anchorage. He was vice 
chairman of the Atwood Foundation, a member of the Alaskan Command 
Civilian Advisory Board, a member of the University of Alaska School of 
Nursing advisory board, a member of the University of Alaska Fairbanks 
Snedden Professor advisory board, and a member of the University of 
Alaska Anchorage Atwood Journalism Chair selection board. He was named 
Alaskan of the Year in 1988, the 1990 Anchorage Chamber of Commerce 
Gold Pan Award Winner for Distinguished Individual Community Service, 
the 2000 Outstanding Civilian of the Year by the Armed Services YMCA, 
the 2002 Alaska State Chamber of Commerce Alaskan of the Year, the 2004 
Junior Achievement of Alaska Business Hall of Fame Laureate, and was a 
2006 Honorary Doctor of Laws recipient by Gonzaga University.
  Born on July 28, 1927, in southwest Missouri in the City of Joplin, 
Bill grew up in Tulsa, OK, Fort Worth, TX, and South Bend, IN, but he 
grew wise in Alaska. He knew more about Alaska's history and politics 
than most any other Alaskan journalist. As a person who got my start in 
elected office as a State representative from north Anchorage, I have 
firsthand knowledge that Bill was an old-school journalist who 
religiously checked his copy for factual accuracy and was always polite 
and fair to his sources on stories he covered. While he had clear and 
strong editorial opinions, he was always courageous in support of his 
newspaper's and city's goals. Bill was a wonderful family man, a 
devoted member of his church, and a pillar of the Alaska Republican 
Party, and always a true gentleman.
  All of Alaska joins in offering condolences to his wife of nearly 57 
years, Marjorie, and his three sons, Mike, David, and Jim, and their 
families. Alaska journalism and the State's political establishment are 
certainly poorer for his passing.

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