Robert Henry Grieser

The Barking Photographer SAN DIEGO – He barked at seven Presidents, the Queen and the Pope. He could whistle up a wind on the calmest of days, and he warmed the hearts of everyone he came in contact with. That was Bob Grieser, world-renown photographer, friend to thousands, and a man who had photographed everything from log canoes to tallships, and on the most faraway and exotic waterfronts imaginable. Robert Henry Grieser, Jr. died January 31 as the morning sun rose over his base of operations – San Diego Bay. He died of complications from pneumonia and kidney failure. He was 70. Bob was born Oct. 12, 1946 in Washington D.C., the second of three children to Robert and Marie Grieser. Bob grew up on the family tobacco plantation in Aquasco, Maryland, along the shores of the Patuxent River. His father was a military contractor/engineer but dabbled as an entrepreneur and inventor. He helped design and build the cigarette-rolling machine for the American Tobacco Company in the 1940s. Bob’s mother worked in photo retouching for Harrison/Ewing, a major East Coast company. Although artistic ability ran through the family, when his father gave him his first camera as a young boy, no one knew how that would become his magic carpet through life, carrying him to exotic locales and capturing the rich and famous on film. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business at Tampa University in Florida. At the age of 18 he was working at the Washington Star as a gopher and copy boy when he was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam Crisis. Bob served two years. He used that time, and on the Army’s dime, to hone his photojournalism skills. After his honorable discharge he took an entry-level position for a short time at the Indianapolis Star before accepting a position at the Washington Star, where he had made many friends in the photo department over the years. He loved working in the photo lab, and on those occasions when his fellow shooters would invite him on assignment, sharing tricks of the trade, he grew to become a solid photographer. His teachers were some of the greatest photographers in the world. Before long the Star was using his images. His time at the Washington Star represented the twilight of old school of journalism, where editors sat with their feet on their desk, drinking whisky and smoking cigars. Bob was one of the last to enter that trade through the back door – through friends and loyalties as opposed to extended education and degrees in the field. Bob’s personality shone throughout, making friends wherever he went. His destiny, borne among such great photographers, included mentoring the next generation of great shooters and Pulitzer Prize winners. One of his first assignments at the Washington Star found him at the White House, covering President Richard Nixon. His editor’s last words were, “Don’t come back here with the same photo as everyone else Grieser, or it will be your last photo for this paper.” At the White House Bob suddenly realized there was a pecking order for reporters and photographers, and he was at the very bottom. His access to the President was across and at the back of the room. The President came in and turned to his left. Bob was hopelessly stranded far to his right. It was at that moment, out of sheer panic for his job, Bob created what became his trademark. He barked at the President. He didn’t just woof, he loudly barked like an angry German shepherd. Nixon turned to see where the dog was and Bob got his shot. Over his long career Bob barked at seven Presidents, the Queen of England and Pope John Paul II. Once President Nixon pointed at him and ordered him out of the room. Several times he was thrown out of the White House for barking, but Bob always got his photo. Along the way Bob shot Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles and Tina Turner. He shot the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol and many other major sports stars, politicians, Hollywood stars and musicians of the era. Bob worked at the Washington Star until they closed in 1981. After 15 years as part of that family he was crushed that this world he so loved was coming to an end. He interviewed all over the country before accepting a position in 1982 as head of the photography department at the Los Angeles Times/San Diego Edition. A photographer in a major newsroom like that of the LA Times might receive three-to-four really good assignments over the course of a year. Sometimes they only got one. Bob would make sure the treasure was divided equally. He often took the worse assignments for himself, although he was arguably the best shooter in the room, despite the pleas of his coworkers for him to take the assignment himself. Such was the love felt for Bob Grieser. His antics were a part of daily work. It wasn’t uncommon for him to make an entrance by running into the room and sliding across the top of several desks, scattering papers everywhere while barking loudly. He was a pleasure to work with both professionally and personally. There were none like him. Bob worked there until they closed the San Diego office in 1992. He transferred to the L.A. Times’ San Juan Capistrano office, commuting from his home in San Diego before eventually taking a buy-out from the company. By now Bob’s freelance maritime business was taking off. He often said he was tired of war and strife (he had just returned from covering the famine in Somalia) and wanted to get away from hard news. In his words, “My desire is to shoot adventure, travel and leisure.” Bob and Georgia started their business, ATL (adventure, travel and leisure) and they never looked back. Bob became the official photographer of record for both the Heineken Regatta in the Caribbean and for all Louis Vuitton America’s Cup events. His cruising photos were nothing short of epic, and those friends and co-workers fortunate enough to travel with him made memories to last a lifetime. As a side business, Bob produced several photo books for clients – books on private yachts and even a book for America’s Cup skipper Dennis Conner. But the book he was most proud of was his own, “Chesapeake Bay,” a coffee table tome of stirring black and white photos from his time at the Washington Star. This book earned him the title, “the Ansel Adams of the Chesepeake Bay.” As testimony to his phenomenal photos, author James A. Michener wrote a rare endorsement for Bob – a long and generous introduction to the book. Michener went on to describe how Bob captured little secrets of the Chesapeake he, Michener, had long been tempted to write about and, when seeing Bob’s photos, was reminded why. “Bob’s pictures of small craft in heavy seas are some of the choice shots in this book. They remind me of what the bay can be,” said Michener. “[His photos] showed me what I might have accomplished had I pursued those additional story lines.” Michener, of course, authored such blockbuster books as “Hawaii,” “South Pacific” and “Chesapeake.” Bob’s photo exhibits have traveled across the country and back over the decades, hosted by some of the most prominent maritime museums and institutions, and engaging thousands of people along the way. The name Bob Grieser quickly became synonymous with sailing and the ocean as his work began to appear in national and international sailing and cruising magazines around the world – publications such as Nautical Quarterly, Wooden Boat, Sailing, Soundings, The Yacht, Showboats International, Classic Boat and Maritime Life & Traditions. From 1983-2014 Bob helped turn a tiny Heineken sailing event in St. Maarten into a major international regatta. He had served as the official photographer for Louis Vuitton and the America’s Cup since 1989. His work took him to Italy, Dubai, New Zealand, the Caribbean and just about anywhere a boat could sail; that included bays, oceans, seas, estuaries, lakes, rivers and backwoods eddies. Bob’s easygoing nature endeared him to all who worked with him, and that included the competition. Photographers at rival newspapers and magazines easily befriended him and he was generous to a fault in sharing technique, loaning equipment or just helping make their experience that day better. International maritime photographer, and long-time Grieser friend, Daniel Forster put it best: “Bob took the photo before we saw it happen. He was always in the right place at the right time, but he also had a nose for a future event or photo that might happen, and where. His bark was infectious and we followed him like a pack of wolves to get our photos.” Built low and stocky, with Rasta hair and his John Lennon glasses positioned on the tip of his nose, Bob cast an unforgettable image. It wasn’t uncommon to see Bob put himself in danger to get his photo. Once, while covering the christening of Dennis Conner’s new racing yacht, Stars & Stripes, Bob positioned himself impossibly on a 2×4 stretch of wood, 20 feet over the water, connecting haphazardly from boat to dock. Slowly he walked backwards with the skill of a circus performer, to capture his shot. It became the cover of a national sailing magazine. Another time he was covering an event in Dubai and wearing traditional headwear. People in attendance thought he was Royalty because of the black band on his headpiece. Someone asked who he was and he slid his glasses down to the tip of his nose, leaned towards them and said, “They call me, Sheik Your Booty.” While covering the Padres for the LA Times, Bob and Tim Flannery became close friends. Flan was an exciting infielder and later third base coach for the team. A much-loved musician, Flan used Bob’s voice as an introduction to his song, “Road To Recovery,” which became a classic fan favorite on the album, “Pieces of the Past.” In the song Bob begins by barking amidst a background chorus of frogs, and bellows, “Roll up, roll up. It’s Bobby G’s Medicine Show.” It was typical Bob Grieser – loud, acceptingly obnoxious, funny, and all Bob. While photography was his profession, his personal life was filled with unlimited kindness and generosity. He never met a stranger and always stood out in a room. He had more personality than any one person should have been allowed and was described more than once as, “a social genius.” Bob was raised a Catholic and later in life was self-ordained as the Reverend Bobby G. He did funerals, weddings and boat blessings upon requests from his friends. During the Christmas holidays Bob would don his elaborate and very expensive Santa costume. He would visit his friends with young children, bringing the ultimate joy into those households, and never departing from his role as Santa throughout his visit. He would break out his list of who had been naughty or nice and the children would sit stunned in amazement at the detail his little book revealed about them. Albert Pike, a Confederate officer, once said, “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains, and is immortal.” A more fitting epitaph could not be created to describe the life and times of Bob Grieser. Bob was a member and served on the board of directors at Southwestern Yacht Club. He was also a member of the Kiwanis Club, Mercury Bay Yacht Club, St. Maarten Yacht Club, Miles River Yacht Club and others. His wife Georgia of San Diego, and his sister Maryann of Maryland survive Bob. Bob and Georgia were married for 42 years. Bobby Grieser’s Celebration of Life will be held at Southwestern Yacht Club, Sunday, March 12 at 2 p.m. A twilight scattering of ashes will then take place from the schooner America off Point Loma. A small flotilla of Ancient Mariner boats will accompany her to sea. Later that afternoon, an “End of Day: Eight Bells, Celebration of Life” for Bob Grieser will take place at Fiddlers’ Green Restaurant on Shelter Island. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made, In Memory of Bob Grieser,” to Scripps Mercy in Hillcrest (www.scripps.org/giving), the Maritime Museum of San Diego (sdmaritime.org), or the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (cbmm.org). Because of his vast lifetime of sea travel, his ashes will be scattered in a number of exotic settings: Off Point Loma; at various favorite sailing locales in New Zealand; on the Chesapeake Bay; the Hawaiian Islands; the family tobacco farm in Aquasco, Maryland; Newport, R.I. (where he began covering the America’s Cup); the mountains of West Virginia (his wife’s home); St. Maarten and various islands throughout the Caribbean and the Netherlands Antilles. Additional Celebrations of Life will take place at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in the fall, as well as at the 2018 Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten.