ROBERT "Bob" WEBB

WEBB ROBERT E. WEBB "Bob" 1928-2018 Robert E. Webb, a newsman known for his vision for journalism as a force that could help heal the deepest hurts and bridge the most bitter divides, died August 23, 2018 of natural causes in Arlington, VA. He was 89. In a 2007 speech, Webb said, "Mass media cannot solve our problems, but it can do much to create the atmosphere in which they can be solved." A native of Mississippi, Webb became Washington bureau chief for the Cincinnati Enquirer in the Nixon-Ford years, and worked for that paper for over 30 years as news editor, night city editor, editorial writer and columnist. Bernard Margueritte, a former Eastern European correspondent for Le Figaro and Le Monde, said Webb's "enthusiasm was able to uplift the spirit of the most disillusioned, jaded and frustrated colleague." "Bob was a topnotch media professional who knew the difference between real news and excitement and understood journalism's role to inform, clarify and where possible inspire," said Rajmohan Gandhi, a biographer of his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi. Central to Webb's larger message was his personal transformation on race. "As a journalist in Jackson, Mississippi, I had for a long time defended racial segregation," Webb wrote, in a memoir he never finished. But then he saw a film that prompted him "to apologize to the first black man he saw." That man happened to be an African, who responded, "after the apology, what?" Webb said he spent the rest of his life trying to answer that question. The only child of O.B. Webb and Ola Reagan Webb, he is survived by his son, John Robert Webb, and daughter, Mary Virginia (Ginny) Gibson, both of Jackson, Miss. Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, September 13, 2018, at the Washington Street United Methodist Church in Alexandria, VA. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the church or to Initiatives of Change, 2201 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23220.The only child of O.B. Webb and Ola Reagan Webb, he is survived by his son, John Robert Webb, and daughter, Mary Virginia (Ginny) Gibson, both of Jackson, Miss. Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, September 13, 2018, at the Washington Street United Methodist Church in Alexandria, VA. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the church or to Initiatives of Change, 2201 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23220.