'Hartford (Conn.) Courant' Photographer, Real Estate Editor Robert B. Ficks Dies at 88

By: E&P Staff

Robert B. Ficks, 88, a staff photographer and real estate editor for The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, died Saturday in his home in West Hartford, Conn.

Ficks, who worked for the Courant for 46-years, will perhaps be best remembered for his poignant 1955 photograph of flood victim Viola Bechard. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated photo, of rain-soaked volunteer fireman Ernest Kosswig comforting Bechard and her infant child shortly after they learned of another daughter's death in the flood, ran on Page One of the Courant on Aug. 20, 1955.

In his 35-year span as a Courant photographer, Ficks became renowned for his dizzying aerial images. He also wrote a weekly column for the Courant on photography.

A Hartford native, Ficks joined the Courant full time in 1935, starting as a news runner for the copy desk. He became the newspaper's third staff photographer a year later.

Ficks' career as a Courant photographer was interrupted twice, for tours of duty with the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War.

In 1971, he was promoted to editor of the Sunday real estate section. Under his watch, the section received more local and national citations than in any previous period.

Ficks retired in 1981 but continued to be involved with the paper as a member of the staff's Thomas Green Club.