SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter

Arizona Republic photo of its June 14, 1976, front page announcing Bolles’ death.

Fifty years ago, a Phoenix reporter lost his life when someone planted a bomb beneath his car and detonated it as he backed out of a parking space at a local hotel. What exactly happened to The Arizona Republic’s Don Bolles on June 2, 1976, and why, continues to fascinate the journalism profession, the state and nation five decades later.

Join Valley of the Sun SPJ as we gather the local media community to commemorate the life, career and death of this dedicated journalist at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, at Baseline Flowers, 3801 E. Baseline Road, Phoenix. Admission is free, but RSVPs are requested. See the link below to the event RSVP page.

Hear local journalist Jeremy Duda of Axios Phoenix, author of a new book about the Bolles assassination, “Murder in the Fourth Estate,” and Republic reporter Richard Ruelas, who has written extensively about Bolles. Also on the panel is George Weisz, who as a graduate journalism student worked on a comprehensive journalistic investigation into Bolles’ death, The Arizona Project. Later, while with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Weisz prosecuted two of the three defendants accused on Bolles’ murder.

Light refreshments will be served at the June 2 event. Duda said he will bring copies of the book to sell and autograph at this event.

RSVPs are requested: Here’s a link to our Facebook event page about the commemoration. And here is a link to a story about the book that Duda wrote for Axios Phoenix.