Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1530856
RICHARD ARTHUR ROECKER MAY 11, 1932 — JULY 20, 2024 58 C I N E M O N T A G E I N M E M O R I A M Richard Arthur (Dick) Roecker passed away peacefully in his California home on July 20, 2024 with his wife and children at his side. Dick served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1955 and joined crews of B-29s as a waist gunner. He worked closely with fellow crew members to ensure weapons and other critical flight systems were op- erational for the success of their missions. Dick's experience in the Air Force, his technical training, and teamwork with crew members would serve him well in his future television career. After his service in the Air Force, Dick eventually moved with his wife and young son to Cleveland, Ohio, where he started his career at KYW-TV (Channel 3). Dick worked with many legendary Cleveland television personalities, including Tom Haley and Linn Sheldon (Barnaby), who hosted a popular children's TV show that aired for decades. He was a cameraman on the Mike Douglas Show which later moved to Philadelphia. He also met and worked with future Hollywood stars Tim Conway and Ernie Anderson (Ghoulardi) when they were working their way up in the early days of television. Dick would often be asked if he was any relation to Al Roker, famous NBC "Today" Show meteorologist. He would glibly respond that there was no relation, but in fact he and Al very much enjoyed working together at WKYC before he went to New York. Dick was promoted to Chief Engineer and also worked as a technical director for the station that became the NBC affiliate WKYC-TV (Channel 3). This was the begin- ning of a 40-year career at NBC, with more than 20 of those years working at the NBC network in Burbank, Calif. Dick's engineer- ing and experience with televised remotes while at WKYC led him to serving as tech- nical director and head remote engineer for many Rose Bowl games, Fiesta Bowls and other sports remotes. He received an Emmy along with two other technical directors for their work on the 1978 World Series. Per- haps the ultimate sports technical direction experience for Dick came in 1996 with the Olympic Games held in Atlanta. Shortly af- ter he passed, Dick's wife Mary Jo received a call from a former remote crew member.He had warm memories of working with Dick,