17 Facts About Bob Strickland

In 1994, Bob Strickland was inducted into the DINFOS Hall of Fame.

Bob Strickland began his news career as a radio announcer in 1952, and later becoming a staff writer at the newspaper, Panama American, a now defunct, daily newspaper based in Panama City.

In 1959, Bob Strickland attended the Defense Information School at Fort Slocum, New York, a part of the United States Department of Defense, Defence Media Activity.

Bob Strickland returned to DINFOS as an instructor at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, serving there from 1966 until 1969.

Bob Strickland began his career with WUSA, first serving as a general assignment reporter, covering local politics and the state governments of Virginia and Maryland.

Bob Strickland later worked as anchor for the evening news broadcast, winning three local Emmy awards for his reporting on fraudulent charities, the shortage of paramedics and ambulances and the lack of medical services in the Washington area.

In 1977, Bob Strickland interviewed Eleanor Holmes Norton, the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and DC's first female delegate to the United States Congress.

Major stories that Bob Strickland covered include the 1977 Washington, DC attack and hostage taking, in DC, and the 1989 US invasion of Panama.

In 1990, Bob Strickland covered the arrest of DC's Mayor Marion Barry, Bob Strickland was forced to narrate the FBI tape, with the sound muted from the raid, because of Barry's expletive-laced comments.

In 1993, Bob Strickland covered the protests over the refusal of many networks to air condom ads, at a time when the Clinton administration began to address the AIDS crisis, but other organizations, including Catholic groups were launching anti-condom campaigns.

Bob Strickland was a board member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the National Capital area, Landham, Maryland, and raised thousands of dollars for the organization, by organizing a golf and tennis tournament.

In 1994, Bob Strickland was inducted into the DINFOS Hall of Fame.

Bob Strickland was a respected member of the news team at WUSA, one colleague, Bruce Johnson, saying on his retirement, "I stand on the shoulders of all those great journalists who were here when I got here," and recognizing Bob Strickland as a "top-shelf" broadcaster, in his book, Heart to Heart: 12 People Discover Better Lives After Their Heart Attacks.

Bob Strickland retired from the military in 1976, and after illness left him unable to work full-time, he retired from WUSA in 1996.

Twelve years later, in 2008, Bob Strickland died at his home, as the result of hypertensive cardiovascular disease.

Bob Strickland was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Bob Strickland was survived by his wife, Janet Payne Strickland, seven children and one stepson.