Robert Skole

Robert Skole passed away on January 17, 2024, after a short illness. He died peacefully with his loving wife Monika at his side in their North End home. Bob was predeceased by son Peter Skole, daughter Katarina Flynn and brother Norman Skole.

Bob was born on August 23, 1928 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to John and Bertha Skole. After graduation from Pittsfield High School in 1946, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and after basic training was stationed in Occupied Japan. As a member of 8th Cavalry Division in Japan he rode the Imperial Guard horses he had helped to liberate. While in uniform Private Bob also had the experience of running into and exchanging salutes with none other than General Douglas MacArthur.

After receiving his honorable discharge in 1947, Bob took advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights and enrolled at the University of Massachusetts with a subsequent transfer to the University of Missouri School of Journalism graduating in 1952. At "Mizzou" he was the features editor of the student humor magazine "Showme.” Bob and his fellow staffers hung out at a bar called The Shack where he often drank beer with an aspiring actor friend named George C. Scott. Bob maintained a lifelong interest and pride in his association with both the Cavalry and the University of Missouri.

Bob spent his early professional years in Boston reporting for The Midtown Journal and The Italian News. This was followed by journalism positions in the Bahamas, Japan, and Florida. Bob then joined McGraw-Hill where he spent 25 years living and reporting from Stockholm, Sweden, and Scandinavia for a long list of business and trade magazines including Business Week, Nucleonics Week, Electronics, Chemical Week, and Engineering News-Record. In the late 1960s he temporarily moved back to the States where he served as Washington Bureau Chief for Electronics magazine. He later published and edited a Swedish business and stock market newsletter, Sweden Business Report and freelanced for a diversity of magazines and newspapers.

Bob was also an author. His books included the comic novel Jumpin' Jimminy-A World War II Baseball Saga: American Flyboys and Japanese Submariners Battle it Out in a Swedish World Series. Together with friend and former colleague, Paul Dickson, he wrote The Volvo Guide to Halls of Fame and Journalese, A Dictionary to Deciphering the News.

After retiring, Bob moved back to his beloved Boston and made his home in the North End where he lent his voice and words as a citizen and neighbor to preserve the character of that historic neighborhood. To this end, he rallied neighbors and wrote letters to the editors of the Boston newspapers.

In his years “fighting City Hall” and the developers trying to re-make the North End, there was one victory in which Bob took the greatest pride: the fight waged against the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). The fight began when BRA approved a proposal for the installation of a restaurant and saloon in a small park at the end of Boston's Long Wharf which many years earlier had been deeded to the city as a gift from the National Park Service. Joining a younger generation of North Enders in filing a series of legal actions, Bob achieved notoriety as a member of what the Boston Globe tagged as "The North End Ten". It took more than a decade up and down the ladder of state and federal trial and appellate courts to win a victory in 2021 that permanently preserved and protected Long Wharf Park. The ruling that won the day found that the city’s attempt to destroy the park was in violation of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Bob is survived by his wife, Monika; granddaughters Alexa Hill (Steven) and Olivia Flynn; great-grand daughter Freyja Hill; daughter-in-law Carol Skole; nephews David Skole (Deana Haner) and Mark Skole (Colleen); niece Susan Wilson (Jeff); cousins Eli Drazen (Won-Hee), and Lisa Drazen (Kevin Meehan), and several other cousins; 4 great-nephews; 2 great-nieces, 3 great-great nephews and one great-great niece.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Bob's memory to the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires, 16 Melville Street, Pittsfield, MA, 01201. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.