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RFH 2010, Passings

Colgate Remembers John Hubbard

Thu, May 06, 2010

Colgate Remembers John Hubbard

John D. Hubbard '72, longtime Colgate photographer, writer, editor

Colgate alumnus and former staff member John D. Hubbard, (with Colgate football coach Fred Dunlap in picture) who chronicled the life of the campus and the Hamilton community in photos and words for decades, passed away today, May 6, 2010, at the age of 60, following a long battle with cancer.

During his years working at Colgate, Hubbard illustrated virtually all of the publications distributed for the university, including the annual engagement calendar, The Colgate Scene, admissions and fundraising publications, the University Catalogue, athletics booklets and brochures, and various other printed pieces.

He was named photographer/writer in Colgate's Office of Communications in 1979, and received several promotions: in 1989 to assistant editor of the Scene; in 1994 to assistant director of communications and associate editor of the Scene, in 1996 to associate director of communciations and managing editor of the Scene, and in 2001 to director of advancement communications.

Hubbard received many awards and honors for his Colgate work. From the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, he received: in 1985, a Bronze Award in the Photographer of the Year competition, silver and bronze medals for two individual faculty portraits, silver awards for an admission prospectus and a campaign case statement, and two gold medals for the 18-minute documentary film on Colgate that he produced; and in 1993, a bronze medal for periodical staff writing in the Scene. In 1994, the Colgate Alumni Corporation presented him with a Maroon Citation in recognition of his years of exemplary service as university writer/photographer.

In 2002, the Picker Art Gallery mounted the exhibition "A Personal Vision: Photographs by John Hubbard '72," which featured photographs he had taken on locations at Colgate, in the surrounding area of Madison County, as well as in Vermont and Kenya.

Following his retirement from Colgate in 2005, he was appointed director of public relations and development at Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton and was later promoted to vice president for community services. He was well known to Madison County residents through his weekly newspaper column, "At the Hub."

As a Colgate student, he was an English major, made the Dean's List, was an active member of the DKE fraternity, and worked as a freelance photographer as well as an athletic trainer.

After graduating, he worked for 6 1/2 years as sports editor and chief photographer for the Bennington (Vt.) Banner. In addition to covering sports, he wrote features, news stories, and a weekly column. There, he won several awards, and became well known for his portraits of his Vermont neighbors. His work was exhibited in one-man shows in Bennington Galleries, and he was a winner in the 1976 UPI New England photo contest. He also taught photography in public schools and privately, and did freelance work for the Boston Globe, Vermont Life, Associated Press, and UPI.

Hubbard, who was born on June 20, 1949, grew up in New Hartford, where he attended the Trinity-Pawling School. His parents, Dr. and Mrs. Robert D. Hubbard, predeceased him. Among his survivors are his wife, Mary Jo, and his children and grandchildren.

 

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Comments(4):

  1. Missing John Hubbard

    Saturday, May 08, 2010 Candi

    Before I met John, in the spring of 1998, the expression "a twinkle in his eye" was just that...a literary phrase. But John really DID have a twinkle in his eye. His warmth, generosity of spirit, wisdom, opinions and observations...and his camera molded my very perceptions of myself and my life in central New York. His love of Sushi (he even had a dog named Sushi), his ability to listen to my husband Arthur's stories as well as he could tell his own, his photographic chronicling of my business, my wedding, my Mom scurrying around town in her cherry red scooter and her first motorcycle ride for her 90th birthday on the back of Eric Starkweather's huge Harley...the Colgate calendar with a month for Sushi Blues.. seeing our faces looking out from the screen into the Hamilton Movie Theater. How cool was that? I think I fell in love with John the first time I met him, and just stayed smitten. He had that affect on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. My husband and I will never stop missing him. We think, all of us, John's friends, should propose to the village that the village green should be renamed..."The Hubb". What could be more fitting or more deserved? Candi Ramer

  2. Tuesday, May 11, 2010 John

  3. John Hubbard

    Tuesday, May 11, 2010 John

    After I moved to Hamilton in the fall of 1981, there was an incident, where a young boy was reported missing in the woods north of the village. Having some experience in searches of this kind, I reported to the Hamilton Fire station, located at the time where Parry's hardware store is now located to volunteer for the search effort. The first person I encountered there was John Hubbard, who also had come in to volunteer for the effort. John's humanity was on his sleeve that day. It always remained a stain obvious to all. We worked together at Colgate, kind of, over the next decades. He was the front man, I was the one who subverted his beautiful images of our place. I really liked him. He wrote such a corny essay in the paper each week. I always laughed about it. So sappy. It was the first thing that I read in that local paper each week. I was sorry when it stopped. He was our Robert Frost. I will miss him a great deal. John Knecht

  4. John Hubbard

    Wednesday, December 22, 2010 don

    December 22. Hancockpt@aol.com I knew John Hubbard well when I taught in the English Department. He possessed great dignity, a weary dignity it seemed because he was a humble man who went to work each day among professors living cosseted lives who were waterlogged by their own stunning egos and who fatuously overvalued their work. John was an honest man surrounded by the kind of breathtaking deceit that characterizes designer schools like Colgate, yet he always saw through the corruption to the real beauty of the place-- the students. Don J. Snyder