Robert T. Comey

Robert T. Comey

formerly of Scotch Plains

Robert T. Comey, a member of the Courier News editorial staff for 27 years, died Sunday, May 15, 2011. Bob was born on Jan. 16, 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from The Governor's Academy (formerly Governor Dummer Academy) in Byfield, Mass. in 1950. He attended Williams College for three years and then served in the Army, primarily in Germany from 1953 to 1955. He graduated from Williams in 1956. Bob moved to New York City after graduation and married Sallie Lane Sewall of Bath, Maine on September 7, 1957. They moved to Scotch Plains in 1958. They lived there until early 1994, when they retired and moved to N.C.

A journalist, Bob's primary employers were The Newark News, United Press International and the Courier News, first in Plainfield and then in Bridgewater. He joined the Courier News in November 1966 and retired at the end of 1993. Bob served in several positions, mainly Business Editor and Editorial Page Editor. In the late 1970s, he was Secretary and then President of the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was active in a number of organizations in the Plainfield area; as a board member and later President of United Family & Children's Society of Plainfield; a trustee of the Hillside Cemetery Association of Scotch Plains, and a vestry member, junior and senior warden, lector and Lay Eucharistic Minister at Grace Episcopal Church in Plainfield. He also served on three committees of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey.

In addition to his wife, he leaves a daughter and son-in-law, Michael P. and Marcia C. Lynch of Claymont, Del., son and daughter-in-law Andrew F. and Valerie Comey of Kerhonkson, NY.; two sisters, Jeanne C. Owen of Vero Beach, Fla., and Nancy C. Stevenson of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; three grandsons and several nieces and nephews.