LYONS, Neb.-
J. Robert “Bob” Leeright, a former correspondent for The Associated Press whose news career spanned nearly 40 years, died March 2 at a nursing home after a bout with pneumonia. He was 86.
Leeright joined the AP in 1947 in Boise, Idaho, then transferred to Denver and Cheyenne, Wyo. He returned to Boise in 1968 as correspondent and political reporter until his retirement in 1982.
While in college at the University of Idaho, Leeright was briefly kicked out of school for writing an editorial opposing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. He was allowed to return after “a day or so,” daughter Sherry Leeright said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
“But politics was his love,” she said. “In Wyoming, he loved covering the Cowboy Congress, as he called it.”
Daughter Robin Spoeneman echoed that comment.
“He loved politics. That was his love and that gave him the opportunity to interact with the statesmen,” she said. “And he loved the AP.”
Born in Rupert, Idaho, in 1920, Leeright was an avid Boston Red Sox fan and golfer. He earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Idaho in 1942, and immediately went to work at the Twin Falls Times-News.
Leeright left journalism briefly to serve as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1943-46. He returned to Twin Falls for about a year, but joined the AP in 1947.
The Idaho Press Club named him Idaho newsman of the year while he was in Boise.
Spoeneman said no funeral services were held, but a brief memorial was celebrated in Nebraska, after which his remains were cremated.
Leeright is survived by his wife of nearly 64 years, Helen, his two daughters, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
