Robert David Wiegand (May 19, 1947 – April 30, 2018) was an American journalist and short-story writer, head of arts and entertainment for the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
''.
Life and career
Wiegand was born in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, where he graduated from
Irondequoit High School
Irondequoit High School (IHS) is a public high school in the town of Irondequoit, a major suburb of Rochester, New York.
History
Irondequoit District Number 3 renamed their original ''Irondequoit Union Free School'' as Irondequoit High School in 1 ...
in 1965. He earned a BA in English and an MA in journalism from
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
in Washington, D.C. in 1969 and 1973.
In the 1970s, he worked at a number of local newspapers in Massachusetts, all now part of the
Wicked Local
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.State Representative Nick Costello, while continuing to write television criticism and other arts articles for North Shore Weeklies. He left the State House after about a year and became editor of the '' Cambridge Chronicle'', then after almost ten years, managing editor of the chain, Dole Newspapers.
After moving to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1992, Wiegand became a temporary copyeditor on the "Datebook" section of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''; in 1995 he became entertainment editor, overseeing the section (among other tasks, editing
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008).
Penn began his acting career in televisi ...
's two series of articles on Iraq and Iran) and in 2006 executive features editor, with the title of assistant managing editor. He was also the newspaper's television critic from 2010 on.
From 2008 to 2017, he co-hosted ''The Do List'', a run-down of weekend entertainment options in the
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
on
Public Radio
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
station KQED, with Cy Musiker.
He was found dead of natural causes at his home on May 1, 2018, after last being seen at a performance of
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...
's ''
Angels in America
''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award f ...
'' on April 28.
His faithful dog, Angus, was with him.
Awards
* First-place award for illustration, New England Press Association
* 1996
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is an annual American award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American short-story writer O. Henry.
The ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories'' is an annual collection of the year's twenty best ...
for "Buffalo Safety"
* 2012: Northern California Society of Professional Journalists award for "Television Drags Its Feet on Diversity”, ''San Francisco Chronicle''