Friday, March 30, 2007
He was praised for the quality of his work and devotion to his family.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Jacob O. Booher, who worked for The Associated Press for 35 years and retired as a bureau chief in Ohio, has died at age 69.
He died Tuesday at home in Maryville, Tenn. He had been hospitalized previously with congestive heart failure.
Booher joined the AP in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1964, worked on the national desk in New York and was news editor in Salt Lake City. He became bureau chief in Louisville, Ky., in 1976, and was appointed to the same post in Columbus in 1981. He retired in 1999.
"Jake lived a full life and saw his sons grow into men that he was proud of," said John Lumpkin, AP vice president for U.S. Newspaper Markets and a fellow bureau chief with Booher for almost three decades. "He was a devoted husband. If he didn't also have a great career as a journalist, those two facts would justify a heavenly reward."
Booher, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, worked for the Knoxville News-Sentinel before joining AP.
Praise for work
"Jake was an ace-high newsman and a real credit to the AP," said Ed Heminger, chairman of the board of the Findlay Publishing Co. and a former AP board member.
Booher was born Sept. 20, 1937, in Birmingham, Ala., and served in the U.S. Army for three years.
Survivors include sons Joel, of Canal Winchester, and Neil, of Yuma, Ariz.; his mother, Sue Smith, of Maryville; sister, Ginger Smith, of Dana, N.C.; and brothers, David, of Davis, Calif., and Robert, of Maryville. His wife, Mary, died in 1996.
The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Reynoldsburg Church of Christ in suburban Reynoldsburg. Interment will be in Violet Cemetery in the suburb of Pickerington. Calling hours will be 6 to 9 p.m. today at Dwayne R. Spence Funeral Home in Pickerington.
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