Robert Simmons

Robert Simmons

Longtime Seattle journalist Robert (Bob) Simmons died June 15, 2019 in Bellingham, where he had lived since 2005. He was 89, and died from complications of a lung condition. His death came on the sixty-second anniversary of his marriage to Darlene (Dee) Lewison, who survives.

Simmons was a prominent reporter and news analyst at KING 5 news from 1977 to 1991; in the latter position he followed Charles Royer and Jim Compton, both later prominent in Seattle politics. Bob left King Broadcasting in 1991 shortly after a year as a Knight Fellow at Sanford University, an esteemed program for journalists.

He then wrote for Seattle Weekly and also produced film documentaries and special reports, before retiring and moving to Bellingham. He maintained his news career, however, writing for Crosscut and Cascadia Weekly, a Bellingham publication. In retirement, Bob began a new "career" as an actor, and appeared as a lead actor in demanding productions, including Inherit the Wind and On Golden Pond, at Bellingham Summer Rep and the Theater Guild.

Robert Clemens Simmons was born June 18, 1930 in Perlee, Iowa and raised in the farm county of southern Iowa. He graduated from Iowa State University and worked as a radio journalist in Iowa and Connecticut before joining the Los Angeles affiliate of CBS News, KNXT, as bureau chief in Sacramento. He covered Governor Ronald Reagan and the free-speech and anti-war movements at Berkeley during his Sacramento years. He was also named a CBS-Columbia University fellow in 1969-70.

He is survived by his widow, and children Eric, Caryn and Amy Holtorf and by grandchildren Nathan, Molly and Mason.

A celebration of his life is planned for Sunday, June 30 at

2:00 pm at Lairmont Manor

in Bellingham.

Memorial gifts may be made to Whatcom Hospice House.