Arthur Pollock, Boston Herald assistant director of photography, died yesterday. Arthur was a great photographer/morning-desk photo editor, very good person, special friend, loving husband to Judy Cockerton, caring dad to Jesse, Jenna and Brianna, and awesome coworker. I will remember his attention to detail, discipline, (fairly) cool demeanor 
, and voracious reading skills. He cared about journalism. Arthur would often finish reading the Herald and get halfway through the Globe before the beginning of his morning shift as morning-desk photo editor. His command of nearly every story was second to none at the Herald, including the writing-side editors. He would sometimes compliment or gently criticize a reporter, when warranted. He would even sometimes tell me: “please tell Laura Crimaldi (my wife and Boston Globe reporter) that her story in the Globe was great, today.” When a photographer got a message from Arthur of “congratulations, great photo”, it was known that he truly meant it. He was a great teacher, teaching me the nuances of the morning photodesk as I would often have to fill in for him during his treatments the last year, and teaching me the art/business of photojournalism. I remember his favorite lesson line of “shoot it like you had been contracted by Parade or People Magazine.” In other words, make every shot count. From my first day at the Herald in 1993 until the last day that I saw him in May, he would have an interesting story to tell, telling it with that famous Arthur grin. He was fiercely loyal to the Herald, Jim Mahoney and The Chief, Kevin Cole. The photos above are some of his favorites, including the Dinosaur of Boston, Roller Coaster, and his view of the very sad Challenger explosion in Florida. He covered the Pope, Presidents and travelled the world until becoming more of a presence on the photo desk in the late 90’s. The photo above of Arthur, at right, fixing my tie was taken in the mid 90’s in Warwick,RI. Five Herald photographers had won photo awards and we were in a hotel about to be feted. Arthur knocked on my hotel room door and wanted me to hustle as we were going to be late. He took one look at my tie and said: “Your tie is on wrong”, and proceeded to fix it. Not sure who took the photo but I will treasure it. RIP Arthur.
