ROBERT RORKE

It was 40+ years ago that my friendship with Robert began. We met on the telephone at ABC News. As an entry level Desk Assistant at World News Tonight, I was required to order show transcripts or seek information from the media/video tape library. The person I often spoke with was Robert. From our first hello we somehow engaged in conversation becoming fast friends. I always dreamed of living in NYC. So, how lucky was I to be friends with Mr. New York City, Robert George Rorke...

Robert was my dear friend and long-time editor at TV Guide and the New York Post. But more than that, he was the voice on the other end of the phone when something in life was a particular challenge. Once, I was prepping to take the GRE, hoping get into a great graduate program at USC and become a college professor. As I ranted and raved about the difficulty of the vocabulary in the English section - and admitted that, as a professional wordsmith, I felt like a fraud - he would cackle and...

Robert was my friend and colleague when I was EIC of Soap Opera Digest, Talk TV and Seventeen magazines. When I was working on my first novel, Robert was the person who told me to "be determined." Those words got me over the finish line. His laughter and sense of humor will always be a smile on my soul. I love him and am so sad he´s passed. Love, Meredith