For 43 years, John Andrews Barbour wrote news stories for The Associated Press.
A friendly and knowledgeable journalist, Barbour specialized in science and environmental issues. He covered the first U.S. manned space expeditions: Alan Shepard's first space launch in 1961, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's first moonwalk and the near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission in 1970. His obituary for Laika, the dog that died on Russia's Sputnik II satellite in 1957, was both informative and eloquent.
Born in Ann Arbor, Barbour worked in the Michigan and New York offices of the AP before retiring in 1996. He also authored two books: "Footprints on the Moon" and "In the Wake of the Whale."
Barbour died on May 8 of complications from a stroke. He was 75.
Posted on May 16, 2004 3:53 AMBarbour was nominated for a Pulitzer by Associated Press for a fine article on Fathers which was a tribute to his own father in it's way. He contributed to many books published by AP. He wrote feature with a by-line.
"Footprints" was the number one selling "moon-book" translated into 13 languages and selling millions of copies world-wide.
He wrote many narrations freelance for documentary films.
He retired to Del Mar, CA and was survived by 1 son, 3 daughters, and ex-wife Patricia.
Posted by j.a. barbour on July 4, 2008 2:27 AM