Dave Hess 2nd National Press Club president to pass away in 2 days

 

The National Press Club lost two of its former presidents in 2 days, including former KR Washington Bureau staffer David Hess, who was the group’s leader in 1985.

 

David Hess

Hess passed away Wednesday, July 19, in Columbus.

 

Donald R. Larrabee, president in 1973, died July 18 in Washington.

 

Larrabee, 93, was a founding member of the board of the National Press Foundation in 1976 and served as its executive director from 1979 to 1985.

 

Portland, Maine, native Larrabee was the owner and operator of the Griffin-Larrabee News Service on Capitol Hill, which served newspapers in New England.  He retired in 1978 after 30 years covering Congress and the government.

 

Both Hess and Larrabee were founding members of the Silver Owls, an organization started in 1985 in the Press Club for members with 25 years of membership.

 

Hess, as Press Club president in 1985, presided over the merger of the National Press Club and the old women’s press club, then named the Washington Press Club.

 

The BJ sent Glendale, West Virginia native Hess to Washington in 1970, where he joined the Knight Newspapers bureau. After his KR retirement, Dave reported from Capitol Hill for the National Journal’s Congress Daily.

 

Dave moved from his home in Springfield,

Virginia in 2010 to live near family members in Columbus. His wife, Dorothy, and children, Laura and Daniel, preceded him in death.

Bill Hershey, who tipped me off about Dave’s passing while I spent a week golfing in Michigan with a friend for 79 years, wrote:

“I have one Hess story that deserves retelling. Many of us had unusual experiences with Pat Englehart but few, if any, could top Dave's.

“During the Kent State coverage in 1970 Dave was on Naval Reserve duty at sea tracking Russian submarines.

“Somehow, Pat found out what ship Dave was on and got on the phone with him. Pat asked -- demanded probably -- that Dave go ashore to ferret out some Kent State info.

“Dave told me just last month that he was put ashore for a week or a few days, did his reporting, and then the ship picked him up. Nothing stopped Pat.”

Amen, Bill. That’s what Pat was the most memorable supervisor I had in my 43 years on newspapers in three states.