brought talent and leadership to the Herald photo staff, but more than that, he brought a level of friendship and collegiality that will always be remembered. We were privileged to have him in our newsroom.” – Herald Staff
REMEMBERING A REAL MENSCH AND A FRIEND
by Joe Fitzgerald, Boston Herald
When word comes that a much-admired friend and colleague has died, it’s often the silly stuff that rushes to mind, which is what happened here yesterday when word came that Arthur Pollock was gone.
One long ago day, for whatever reason, he recalled, “I failed a test at my bar mitzvah,” which is why, for the next 30 years, whenev- er we’d meet in the newsroom he’d be asked, “Arthur, why is this night different from all other nights?” or ‘Arthur, why do we dip our
vegetables twice?”
And he’d laugh that wonderful laugh, like the mensch he was.
Oh, to hear that laugh again this morning, but it’ll
be heard
only in
treasured
memo-
ries now
because
cancer
fifinally
claimed
him at the
age of 68.
“He told
me what
he was
dealing
with a
year ago,” photo chief Jim Mahoney said, “but he didn’t want to make a big fuss over it. He just wanted to keep coming to work.
He was hurting, but he was strong.”
For Arthur, the Herald newsroom was almost an extension of family.
“Every Saturday he’d bring in bagels and smoked salmon,” shutterbug Stuart Cahill said. “One day someone mentioned we ought to have a toaster and the next
thing we knew Arthur went out and
bought one. That was just Arthur being Arthur.”
One year he and Mark Garfifinkel won
major photo awards and were sent to a Rhode Island hotel for the presentations.
“As I was stepping out of the shower,”
Garfifinkel said, “I could hear Arthur hollering, ‘Let’s go! We’ve got to get down-
stairs.’ He was so disci-
plined. I dressed in a hurry, but as we’re leaving he said, ‘Hold it. You can’t go like that; your tie is knotted wrong.’ So he fifixed it, just like a big brother would.”
He was a character without ever trying to be one.
“I’m from the New York area,” photographer Matt West said, “and I had never heard anyone speak so fast. It was almost as if it were a test to fifigure out what you were being asked to do. But it wasn’t what he said that I’ll remember; it was the way
he dealt with you, knowing all about your family and making sure you always knew that nothing mat- tered more.”
Kevin Cole. now retired
after a legendary career in photography here, hired Arthur in the spring of 1983, not knowing he was bringing a special friend into his life.
“We’d argue politics because he was a real lib- eral, you know?
I mean we’d really go at it. But I never had an argu- ment with him.
How could I? I loved the guy.”
Cole also held him in highest professional regard. “One of the most important things in a newspaper photographer is an ability to do features, especially when there’s nothing doing in news or sports.
    You’ll fifind very few guys who can go out there and bring back a picture that’ll make a reader smile or cry. I could always depend on Arthur to do that.”
For the Herald family, this one really hurts. And for Judy and the kids, it’s crushing.
But then again, how lucky we all were to have had him.
Goodbye, good friend, and God bless.
 the news photographer | 2019
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