The ‘Yoda’ of local journalism, long-time PLU professor Cliff Rowe has died
Stuart Rowe paused for just a moment. He needed a beat or two to gather his thoughts
How would his father write this story, I wanted to know.
“His focus would be on getting the essence of the person,” Rowe eventually said. “Some obits you read, it’s just dates and details, and you don’t really get a sense of the person. That would be his objective: Capturing what the person was about, what they were like and sharing that with anyone who read it.”
For decades in the South Sound, it’s the kind of straightforward, thoughtful advice that Stuart’s father, Cliff Rowe, dispensed from his office at Pacific Lutheran University. An understated titan of local journalism who influenced generations of students who passed through his classroom — and beyond — Rowe died Jan. 5 due to complications from existing health conditions, according to his family. He was 84.
In the wake of Rowe’s death, the outpouring of memories and reflection was immediate, underscoring the remarkable reach of a man known for his genuine humility and his passion for everything journalism should be. In addition to his teaching career at PLU — where he became the university’s first full-time journalism professor in 1980, following in the footsteps of his father, who taught journalism at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon — Rowe spent time working in newsrooms across the region, including The News Tribune and the Seattle Times. In 1995, Rowe received the Society of Professional Journalists’ national teaching award. He also was instrumental in helping to guide the Washington News Council, which spent 15 years working to publicly hold the state’s newspapers and media outlets accountable to high standards of accuracy and fairness.
Rowe retired from PLU in 2010 but remained active in the school’s Department of Communication until 2015, according to the university’s director of communications, Zach Powers. In his personal life, Rowe was married to his wife, Jille, for 63 years, and the couple had three children together. Rowe outlived two of them: a daughter, Petra, passed away in 2020 from COVID-19, and a son, Scott, died from brain cancer in 2005.
According to many of the people who knew him best, Rowe made a lasting impact during every stage of his long career. You didn’t necessarily need to be one his students to benefit from his wisdom and mentorship, said David Boardman, the dean of Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication who briefly worked with Rowe at The News Tribune in the early 1980s before going on to win Pulitzers while serving as an editor at the Seattle Times.
On Tuesday, Boardman said Rowe’s dedication to journalism ethics — and “really considering the impact of your decisions on the human beings involved with a story” — has stuck with him.
“I was never his official student, but he certainly had a big impact on me in my formative years,” Boardman said.
Specifically, Boardman recalled the 1992 coverage he helped lead at the Seattle Times of former Washington Sen. Brock Adams and the sexual misconduct allegations he faced. After the Times broke the story — which included quoting eight unidentified women who said Adams assaulted them over the course of roughly 20 years — the prominent Democrat gave up his campaign for a second term.
“There were lots of ethical minefields and really tricky decisions. I remember consulting with Cliff along the way, just on twists and turns in that story,” Boardman said.
“He was just an absolutely delightful guy to be with, a great guy to have a beer with or go on a hike or go to a ballgame,” Boardman added. “And yet when the time came to get serious, he could be just really thoughtful and helpful.”
It’s one of many heartfelt stories shared this week by well-known journalists throughout the region. At PLU, the list of future media members Rowe influenced is a testament to his life’s work, including former News Tribune and current KNKX reporter Kari Plog, former TNT columnist turned Tacoma Public Schools spokesperson Dan Voelpel and former TNT Opinion editor Matt Misterek.
Misterek, who graduated from PLU in 1989, compared Rowe’s influence to the university’s long-time football coach, Frosty Westering.
“Frosty was known for saying, ‘Make the big time where you are.’ Cliff came to PLU in the mid-1970s, just a few years after Frosty, and brought that same mentality. This was no powerhouse journalism program, but under Cliff’s guidance for more than 35 years, the small university in Parkland turned out some of the Pacific Northwest’s finest reporters,” Misterek said. “Cliff was an unfailingly upbeat mentor and father figure for many of us young typewriter jockeys, generous with his time, a true class act.”
KIRO 7 reporter Graham Johnson and KING 5 sports reporter Chris Egan also studied under Rowe during their time at PLU. Both described their former professor as an old-school role model who always had time for his students, pushing them to be their best.
“I was just thinking about some of the things that, as journalists, we now sort of take as second nature — like the need to get other perspectives, and check your facts — the basics. For me, thinking back, I think they probably came from Cliff,” Johnson, who graduated from PLU in 1996, said. “He was so generous in what he offered to all of us — friendship, guidance, and just those things that stick with you.”
Egan recalled Rowe as “a great mentor, and great friend at the same time.”
“I can still see his face walking up on upper campus, smiling. Cliff was just a great person, and he’s going to be missed. … I almost feel like he was like Yoda, instructing all these young Jedis at PLU that would go out and use his teachings for the betterment of society,” Egan, who graduated from PLU in 1995, said. “I think what’s sad is that we all couldn’t have gotten together and honored him before he passed, so he could hear all these things, but I have a feeling he knew what he was doing.”
According to Stuart Rowe, his father was well aware of just how many people he touched. Beyond championing the tenets of journalism and ethics, it was the lasting relationships that drove him, his son said.
“He just knew that journalism was more than dispensing facts,” Stuart Rowe said. “I think what he thrived on was making positive impacts on the lives of kids.”
Service arrangements for Rowe are still being made, according to his family.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
