Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes on the keeper’s appreciation for his very brief contact with Bob Wills, the Milwaukee journalism giant who spent much of his long life fighting for the public’s right to know what its government is up to. Bob was instrumental in creating the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council many years ago, which defined the legal requirement for public meetings and prevents office holders from conducting business behind closed doors.
Before he died last week at the age of 95, Bob was an across-the-hall neighbor at Coventry Village where the keeper and Phyllis live; and there was opportunity for brief visiting. Bob was editor and publisher of Milwaukee newspapers which included the time—1970’s when the keeper wrote for the Milwaukee Journal. There was no direct path-crossing, but the keeper obviously reaped the benefits of Bob’s freedom of information efforts on any number of column-writing occasions; and he—the keeper should have been more emphatic in thanking Bob in person.
Now, with political narcissists making a circus out of how the public is informed and misinformed, there is a desperate need for the kind of dedication to disseminating the truth that Bob Wills represented.
The keeper says, “RIP, old neighbor. You did a helluva job, and left us a glimmer of hope.”
Bob Wills Obituary
