Robert William Henkel Jr.

ROBBINSTON, Maine—Robert W. (Bob) Henkel, a retired senior editor who covered business and the electronics industry for more than 50 years, died Sunday (Feb. 16) after a brief illness.

Henkel turned 84 on Jan. 26 and lived in Robbinston for 20 years after he and his wife, Barbara T. (Bobbi), moved there from the New York City area in the early 1990s. Both he and his wife have been active in the Robbinston Historical Society. Henkel also served as a member of the Robbinston Volunteer Fire Department during the past decade.

Born in Wayne, NE, on Jan. 26, 1930, Henkel was the son of Robert and Juanita (Harshburger) Henkel. He enrolled as a freshman at the University of Nebraska in Omaha in 1948 and, after serving in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism in 1956. During his time in the U.S. Navy, Henkel received two battle stars in the Korean War and worked as a weatherman on a destroyer. While still in college, Henkel worked as a camera/newsman for KMTV television in Omaha before taking a job as a newspaper reporter on the North Omaha Booster.

In 1956, Henkel joined the Wall Street Journal in Chicago. Also that year, he married Barbara T. Vejvoda, whom he met at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. The newspaper moved Henkel to its San Francisco bureau, where he began covering the emergence of the U.S. electronics industry in what eventually became known as “Silicon Valley.” After working in public relations for Fairchild Semiconductor in the 1960s, Henkel joined Electronic News as an editor in the Los Angeles region and then was hired by McGraw-Hill’s Electronics magazine in 1966 to establish a news bureau in Washington, D.C After being transferred to New York by Electronics, Henkel became a senior editor on McGraw-Hill’s BusinessWeek, covering the electronics industry (1967-1985). In 1985, McGraw-Hill named Henkel editor-in-chief of Electronics magazine.

After McGraw-Hill sold Electronics, Henkel joined CMP Publications on Long Island, N.Y., as editorial director of its Electronics Group (which included EE Times and Electronic Buyers’ News weekly industry publications). Henkel also was a vice president at CMP and helped expand its international coverage of the electronics industry in Europe and Asia during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Henkel officially retired in 1994 and took up full-time residence with his wife in the historic Mansion House in Robbinston, where he continued working as a contributing editor and commentator for several publications and Internet websites covering the semiconductor industry until 2007.

In Robbinston, Henkel served in the local volunteer fire department from about 2003-2008. Over the years, he and his wife Bobbi have been heavily involved in Robbinston Historical Society annual events, fund raisers, and the renovation of the town’s 132-year-old Grace Episcopal Church (on U.S. Route 1), which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Henkel is survived by his wife of 57 years, two grandsons (George and Henry Henkel), and daughter-in-law Polly Henkel of Portsmouth, N.H. He was preceded in death by his son, Robert (Bob) Weyland Henkel of Portsmouth, N.H., in January 2013. No services are planned, but for those wishing to honor the memory of Bob Henkel, the family requests contributions to the Robbinston Volunteer Fire Department (which can be sent to c/o Bob Merrill, 1048 US Route 1, Robbinston, ME 04671) or the Robbinston Historical Society in lieu of flowers (which can be sent to P.O. Box 39, Robbinston, ME 04671). Arrangements by Mays Funeral Home, Calais & Eastport.

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