July 2024 obituaries

Obituaries published in the August 2024 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

MICHAEL CORCORAN

AUSTIN — Austin music journalist and historian Michael Corcoran – whose unique, astute and often hilarious writing style captured the energy and spirit of the Texas music scene – has died. He was 68.

Family members confirmed July 1 that he was found deceased in his Buda residence. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the cause of death.

Corcoran wrote in a sometimes gruff, funny, inimitable manner for the American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, Spin, National Lampoon and other publications. He spent the past years as a serious historian, publishing books about sometimes unsung Texas music and musicians, according to a remembrance published in the Austin American-Statesman.

Among his highly praised books were “Ghost Notes: Pioneering Spirits of Texas Music” and “All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music.” His most recent work was published as “Michael Corcoran’s Overserved” on Substack.

He was reportedly working on a new book at the time of his death.

Corcoran grew up in a military family in Hawaii, exposed to a diverse set of musical traditions, including those on the islands and the mainland. 

He appeared able to cut through the performative pretensions of pop culture to find the authentic core of a musician’s artistry. Corcoran later wrote that he got his start writing about music in the mid-1970s as a contributor — sometimes unsolicited — for Sunbums magazine, Oahu’s counterculture rag.

Twice nominated for Grammy Awards for his album liner notes, Corcoran championed forms of music that had fallen through the media cracks, including underreported Black music, such as the Jones Family Singers gospel band.

He is remembered for his writing and for promoting Texas artists of all music genres, and many responded to news of his death.

“The most important thing to remember about Corcoran was that he wrote for the National Lampoon,” said Pat Beach, who worked alongside Corcoran at the Statesman after 1997. 

“He later described himself as a ‘roast critic.’ He also said he regretted some of those barbs. Obviously, he had issues. He didn’t take care of himself. But he became this incredible scholar of Texas music.”

“He loved history and went to great lengths to uncover the stories of Texas’s forgotten legends, particularly Black artists who might otherwise have been lost to time,” Austin360 editor Deborah Sengupta Stith said. 

“I remember his excitement as he unwound the story of the great gospel singer and pianist Arizona Dranes. She was one of the many ‘True Texas Legends’ he extolled. These deeply reported stories were never widely read — Corky used to joke that when he needed to take his ego down, he’d look at the Amazon rankings for his book — but his labors of love were invaluable contributions to the canon of Texas history.”

For two years, Corcoran was married to retired nonprofit consultant Victoria Corcoran, formerly of Dallas, now living in Maine. 

He is survived by their son Jack Corcoran, a sister and other relatives.

A memorial concert was held at Antone’s Nightclub on July 15, proclaimed by Mayor Kirk Watson as Michael Corcoran Day in Austin.

BOB ROGERS

BRYAN – Bob Rogers, who spent 50 years in journalism, including more than 20 at Texas A&M University in various teaching roles and a short stint as editor of The Bryan Eagle in the 1980s, died on July 4. He was 96.

According to a remembrance published in The Bryan Eagle, former students said Rogers influenced hundreds of Aggie journalists in and beyond the classroom while being generous with his time. They called him a father figure for many who taught his students not just about journalism, but also life.

Rogers is often remembered by former students for his “400” sessions, where he gathered student reporters on Friday afternoons to go through that week’s editions of A&M’s student newspaper The Battalion for feedback.

Although Rogers made a career in Aggieland, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in anthropology. After graduation, Rogers spent 20 years in newsrooms, including the Waco Tribune-Herald, and rose as high as managing editor of the Austin American-Statesman where he supervised a newsroom of 60 journalists.

In 1968, Rogers was hired in a part time role at A&M while he completed a master’s degree in political science. He left A&M in 1970 to teach and serve as department head at the University of Wyoming. But he came back to Aggieland in 1974.

The following year, Rogers was promoted to department head and then appointed chairman of the Board of Student Publications. This was the first step in integrating The Battalion with A&M’s journalism department as an instructional laboratory. Editorial decisions remained with student editors.

In 1981, Rogers received a Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Student Relations. He returned to full-time faculty in 1982 and retired as a professor emeritus in 1985 to become editor of The Eagle.

Rogers caught the teaching bug again, however, returning to A&M in 1988 to serve again as journalism department head. 

Rogers retired for good in 1995.

After his retirement, he still came to different A&M journalism-related events. In 2000, an endowed scholarship was founded in Rogers’ name after former students raised funds. The scholarship is given to students that are serious about becoming journalists.

WILL D. JARRETT

DALLAS – Wilbur (Will) D. Jarrett, 88, former managing editor of the Dallas Times Herald and co-founder of Westward Communications, died July 15.

A native of Odessa, Garrett spent one year in the Texas A&M Corpus of Cadets before transferring to Texas Tech to major in journalism. In 1998, he was named a distinguished alumnus of the university.

He and his wife established the Will & Renee Jarrett Scholarship Endowment for Tech journalism students.

At Tech, he was sports editor of the Toreador before taking his first job as sports editor at the Artesia (N.M.) Daily Press and then at the Santa Fe New Mexican.

He served two years in the U.S. Army stationed in West Germany and returned to the New Mexican before working at two newspapers in Phoenix, Arizona.

He was hired at the Miami Herald in 1963, where he held positions of assistant state editor and assistant news editor. In 1970, Jarrett was transferred by the Herald’s parent company, Knight-Ridder, to the Philadelphia Inquirer. For the next five years, he held the positions of assistant to the executive editor and managing editor, principally in charge of sections appearing in the Sunday Inquirer.

He got the chance to return to his home state in 1975 when he was hired to fill the managing editor role at the Dallas Times Herald, in charge of all news, features and the newspaper’s bureaus in Washington, D.C. and Austin.

From 1981 to 1986, he served as editor in chief for both the Herald and the Denver Post. He led staffs to two Pulitzer Prizes in Dallas and Denver. He was always fond of talking about “newspaper wars” in Denver and Dallas in the late 1970s and 1980s. In 2012, he was named one of the Dallas Press Club’s “Legend of North Texas Journalism.”

Whether on the golf course or during a newsroom softball game, Jarrett was known for enjoying lively competition. He never shied away from giving you his opinion on politics, college football or the state of journalism.

Late in his career, Jarrett formed Westward Communications Inc. in 1986 with his long-time friend and colleague Ken Johnson. They built a chain of more than 50 daily and weekly newspapers in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Colorado.

After Westward was sold in 1997, Jarrett enjoyed retirement, spending time with friends, fishing and golfing. He founded the Fourth Estate Golf Society (FEGS), whose membership was composed of editors who gathered annually to pursue experiences on golf courses around the country.

His wife Renee preceded him in death. He is survived by two children and six grandchildren.

LENA MARINA GARCIA

UVALDE – Lena Marina Garcia, 74, of Uvalde died on June 23 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

She was born on Sept. 16, 1949, in San Antonio to Lena Rivera and Ignacio Garcia.

She was raised in Houston and traveled the northern states before settling in Uvalde, where she was the owner and editor of The Uvalde Eagle News.

Her family said her many talents included being a published children’s book author, artist, sculptor and gardener. Her storytelling was inspired by stories she heard as a child.

A memorial service celebrating her life will be held at a later date.