As a skilled, noted sculptor who produced layered bronze pieces, Bob Wick stood out in the media industry, which is not brimming with fine artists. Wick, co-owner of Arizona-based Wick Communications, also made a mark as an environmentalist, championing causes in his adopted state of Arizona.
Wick died on Jan. 13, after a battle with cancer and a heart attack. He was 86.
Wick was born in Niles, Ohio. He got a degree in journalism from Kent State University in 1957 and went on to earn a master's degree in fine art from the Cranbrook Academy of Art outside of Detroit.
Wick and brother Walter bought out their uncle, James Wick, in 1965 and partnered with their father, Milton. Milt died in 1981, and Bob and Walt assumed controlling shares of the company. Walt died in 2016. With operations in 11 states, Wick Communications is now in its third generation of family ownership, as Bob’s son Francis Wick is now president and CEO of the company.
In 1984, Wick and others successfully pushed for a reduction of copper smelter pollution in Arizona and northern Mexico. Around this time, Wick brought on writer and editor Dick Kamp, who focused on environmental issues in Arizona and elsewhere. This was a rare or perhaps unheard-of beat for community newspapers at the time.
As many do, Wick liked hiking and taking in the Arizona landscape, which inspired him in his sculpting. He put trees and plants directly in the bronzes to reflect the flora and strength of Earth and their ties to humanity. He said the many strata of his sculptures represent how man and Earth consist of many layers.
Wick’s works have been displayed in galleries, botanical gardens and universities around the country, including the University of Arizona. His art is featured at Kent State University, home of the Wick Poetry Center (WPC). The WPC was founded in 1984 by Walt and Bob Wick, with the Stanley and Tom Wick Poetry Prize named after sons that Bob and Walt lost tragically.
Wick planted more than a thousand trees on his land in the Mule Mountains near Bisbee, Arizona. Wick and his spouse of more than four decades, Estellean Wick, lived in Sierra Vista.
Among nonprofits supported by the Robert J. Wick Family Foundation are St. Vincent de Paul (food bank), Southern Arizona Children's Haven, Salvation Army, Amerind Foundation, NAMI, E-Tech International and Boys and Girls Club.
Survivors include wife Estellean Wick, daughter Cornelia Gun (Alan Gun), daughter Rosie Wick (Sean Fitzpatrick), son Horace (BJ) Wick (Natalie Gomez), son Nate Wick (Tera Wick), son Francis Wick (Mandy Wick) and daughter Destiny Wick. Grandchildren are Tristyn Wick, Gabriel Gun, Tres Wick, Gia Gun, Sunny Wick, Dorothy Wick, Sebastian Wick and Savannah Wick.
A host of people responded to E&P to share their memories of Wick.
Dick Kamp, director of nonprofit E-Tech International and former environmental reporter and editor for Wick Communications:
“I first met Bob in 1982, drawn together by some parallel grievous events in our lives and a belief that we could collaborate to end copper smelter pollution in the Arizona-Sonora border with reporting an essential tool. His support made the collaboration successful, resulting in January 1987 U.S.-Mexico accords on smelter pollution control signed by George Schultz. That, along with successful lawsuits, removed a million tons of sulfur dioxide from the air and eventually changed U.S. air pollution regulations for that pollutant.”
From the Sierra Vista Herald, the George Polk Award- and Pulitzer Prize-nominated news publisher:
“Bob carried within him deep spiritual beliefs; among them, that when you have faced death in your life, you can choose to embrace strength without fear and with grace. To him, that meant political strength, giving of himself for his family, drawing on nature for his sculpture and honoring his deceased son’s poetry by honoring poets.
“In 2021, while being treated for multiple cancers, Bob was struck, as he put it, by a beam of light that made him in his last months a fine illustrator, designing sculptures he would be unable to complete (See photo). He approached his death, which he didn't believe would come until his 90s, satisfied with his life.”
Joe Soldwedel, owner and president/CEO of Western News&Info, which co-owns Today's News-Herald (Lake Havasu, Arizona) and Parker Pioneer (Parker, Arizona) with Wick Communications:
“Bob’s passing hits my family and our company hard. Bob was a kind, intelligent gentleman with a keen sense of humor. His family company and ours partnered in Parker and Havasu in the mid-'90s. The Wicks have been fantastic allies and friends, the entire time largely due to Bob’s involvement.
“We'll miss Bob. The Wick family is in our prayers during this difficult time.”
Jeremy Halbreich, chairman and CEO, AIM Media Management:
“I had the very good fortune to meet Bob in the very late 1990s when we also had newspaper holdings in Colorado, and the Wick Communications newspaper in Montrose (Colorado) printed our group of small daily and weekly publications.
“We spoke by phone regularly about industry issues, and I had the pleasure of visiting Bob in Sierra Vista during this period of time. Talk about a revelation seeing Bob in his own environment — and pun fully intended in his case. It was a thrill and very exciting to discuss industry matters, view installed sculpture located across his property and other sculpture still underway in his studio, and see in person and experience first-hand the gorgeous land and landscape that inspired Bob both professionally and personally.
“Bob was a wonderful combination of intellect, journalist, newspaper industry advocate, artist and inspirational leader. He and I developed a deep friendship through our common interests in both the arts and in publishing. I'm the better for having made his acquaintance, and I'm further fortunate to carry on this same relationship with his son Francis.”
John Mathew, former Wick CEO:
“Bob Wick was a man of great passion for many things: first, his family; second, the newspapers and their people who served the communities he loved, for a great debate and for the less fortunate. He believed, correctly, that Wicks’ newspapers had a role and responsibility to stick up for and represent the less fortunate.
“He also had a great passion for ice cream, and one of the fun things of traveling around with him was the inevitable, ‘I think there is a Dairy Queen at the next exit. Let's stop and see.’
“I have a fond memory of my first airplane trip with Bob, flying from Phoenix to Albuquerque. He said, 'Do you mind if I sit by the window?' I quickly agreed and asked why. He told me he wanted to be able to see the colors, the clouds and the contours of what was above and below even though he’d seen it countless times before. He had that much appreciation for the beauty of the earth. To this day, I wonder what Bob would think when someone on a flight closes the window shade.”
Donovan Kramer Jr., co-publisher, managing editor, Casa Grande Valley Newspapers:
“I knew that Bob was a special person, and it showed in his family company, Wick Communications. But attending his memorial service at his ranch in the mountains near Bisbee really made an impression on me. His home reflected his life as an artist as well as his business side, and hearing the words of his daughters and sons really explained the sensitive and intelligent person Bob was.”
Tom Yunt, former president and CEO, Wick:
“Bob Wick was a Renaissance man. He was an artist. He was an environmentalist and obviously had a deep love for the newspaper and the newspaper industry. He was just a fascinating man. And I really got to know him. On a personal level, he was a real film buff. He was an avid reader. And he loved Arizona and was doing everything he could to try to protect Arizona from an environmental and landscape perspective. I worked for both him and his brother, Walt. And I’ve never seen two brothers that loved each other more than those two did. I don’t think I was ever in a meeting with the two of them that they didn’t express their love for one another or give each other a big hug. And he was just a real gentle soul.
“Not only did I have the privilege of working for him as the CEO, but I became his friend. We spent a lot of time socially together. Toward the end of my tenure there, my real responsibility was to get his son, Francis, ready to take over the company. Francis and I remain very dear friends, almost looking at him as my nephew or as my son. I talked to him frequently, but he was really the gem in Bob’s eye. And Bob was so proud to see Francis take over the company.
“They just don't make people like Bob anymore. He always had a friendly smile for people. He was very outgoing. Very curious. He was just a gentle man. He was a real privilege to work for. I was really privileged to work for three family-owned media companies, and I would hold Wick up there with the highest of the three that I got to work for.”
Ray Carlsen, retired executive director, Inland Press Association:
“Bob was an active participant in the Inland Press Association’s annual Family Owners conferences, and his legacy is sustained through his son Francis. Bob was also a faithful participant in the annual Arizona publishers’ luncheons organized in recent years. Bob and his older brother Walt participated in many exchanges of ideas for family ownership. He will be missed.”
Steve Woody, former Wick group publisher, currently a columnist for the Montrose Daily Press:
“Bob nourished me, professionally and personally. Nourished meant when he and his brother Walt hired me to manage two community daily newspapers at 28 with just one year's professional experience in publishing. 28. Who does that? Bob provided nourishment over our long association with complete publisher autonomy; as a result, I became a better publisher. Watching Bob and Walt interact over the years, I became a better brother.
“He encouraged enterprise community journalism; he encouraged risk-taking. Community newspapers — just like their metro brethren — have all the opportunities, Bob said, to be that watchdog, to be that leader in the communities we publish in, to provide the town square element of connection to readers. We published honest newspapers that earned impressive margins, community journalism that had purpose, reach and advocated for the public good.
“My first enterprise project for the Sierra Vista Herald-Bisbee Daily Review was a three-week investigation and subsequent three-week publishing of activities related to Reagan’s Central America strategies of the time. The Herald-Review went to Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador because Fort Huachuca troops and personnel were involved with U.S. assistance and training. Fort Huachuca was Sierra Vista's largest employer (15,000) and thus relevant. Not often community newspapers provide foreign coverage which is relevant to local readership. Bob was all in. The project won all kinds of awards and recognition and illustrated how community newspapers could provide enterprise-advocacy journalism.”
Larry Perrotto, chairman, Community Media Group:
“I have several fond memories of being invited to join Bob, his brother Walt and father Milt at the annual winter Wick group newspaper conference in Scottsdale or Tucson, Arizona, back in the 70s and 80s. The meetings were always quite productive and interesting. In fact, my longtime business partner, George R. Sample, and I frequently competed to see which of us could generate the most ad dollars from ideas we learned at these conferences.
“My main recollection of Bob is that he possessed an unusual quality of great sensitivity to the world around him, which clearly endowed him with a greater sense of humanity. This, coupled with a very practical philosophy of life, contributed greatly to his skill and artistry as an accomplished sculptor and to his effectiveness as a principal in the management of the Wick newspaper group.”
Mary Reardon is a writer and editor based in Wisconsin. Wick Communications contributed some content for this report.
