Bob O’Rourke, longtime PR chief of the California Institute of Technology who raised national awareness in recent years of a rare disease he suffered from since 2006, died Dec. 27 after complications following a lung transplant. He was 72.
O'Rourke |
O’Rourke stepped down as VP of PR for CalTech in 2009 and has been an advisor to the school’s president Jean-Lou Chameau since then. He joined the institution in 1986 as PR director.
“His energy and Irish charm played a big role in spreading the word about Caltech over the past 20 years,” said Chameau. “Everybody I met in Pasadena and LA knew Bob and associated Caltech with him. He was the Caltech Ambassador Extraordinaire."
CalTech is circulating tributes to O’Rourke from media figures and colleagues, including Tom Brokaw, who called the PR pro “a one-man human genome project” who “seemed to be connected to half the people in the world.”
Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis added, “It will be a long time before we meet anyone else who has the combination of smarts, energy, and wonderful sense of humor that made up Bob's persona."
After a stint as an Air Force air traffic controller, O’Rourke’s PR career started in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania before he moved east to serve as press secretary to Boston University president John Silber.
In 2006, he was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and used his PR savvy to raise awareness of a relatively unknown disease that killed prominent figures like Marlon Brando and Robert Goulet.
Brokaw said when the “Today” show did a segment with O’Rourke on the disease, it “lit up the NBC switchboard and websites.”
On his last major PR campaign, O’Rourke said: “"I've always been the man behind the man speaking on camera, but I'm doing this because if I can make headway in bringing awareness to this disease, the payoff could be tremendous."
O’Rouke is survived by wife Sandy, children Mary, Dan, Paul and Beth, stepchildren Toddand Ashley, and eight grandchildren.
A mass is set for Jan. 4 at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena.