TOBAR, Joseph A. Jr. -- Age 53, at rest Monday, July 21, 2003 in San Jose, California. Native and life long resident of San Jose, California. Advertising Services Clerk at the San Jose Mercury News for 33 years. Beloved son of Joseph Sr., and Margaret Tobar. Loving father of Stephanie Dasalla and son-in-law Paul Dasalla. Funeral services will be Friday, July 25, 2003 at 12:00 p.m. held at DARLING & FISCHER CHAPEL OF THE HILLS, 615 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Interment to follow at Los Gatos Memorial Park, San Jose.
San Jose Mercury News (CA) - July 24, 2003
JOSEPH TOBAR , 'KIND AND GENTLE MAN' - ADMIRED BY HIS CUSTOMERS, CO-WORKERS AT MERCURY NEWS
Author: BETTY BARNACLE, Mercury News
If a company is lucky, there'll always be a Joe Tobar kind of guy on its staff.
The original was at the Mercury News for 33 years.
Many will remember him walking down the hall in his bow tie and neatly buttoned vest, mischievously denying his own formality by topping it regularly with a New York Yankees' cap.
Mr. Tobar died July 21 at age 53 of a heart blockage while on medical leave for a bad back. He worked in customer services in the paper's advertising department.
His charisma was something so elusive that even the wordsmiths at the newspaper found it hard to express.
Among the e-mails the paper received from current and past colleagues, Roberta Quadro commented on a card that Sylvia Lang created on her computer and posted after word of Mr. Tobar 's death spread through the building.
''Below Joe's picture,'' Quadro wrote, ''it says, 'A kind and gentle man who was always willing to lend a hand.' If it's possible for a person to be summed up in merely one sentence, that was the perfect sentence to describe Joe.''
At his Mercury News retirement party just after Mr. Tobar 's death, Lou Alexander, the advertising operations chief, praised Mr. Tobar's dedicated work for customers who ''would wait on hold until Joe was free so they could give him their proof corrections.'' He also reported that when these same customers visited the newspaper plant, they agreed it would be nice to meet the publisher, ''but they insisted on meeting Joe.''
Mr. Tobar was a union shop steward in his ad services department and was twice elected to the San Jose Newspaper Guild's representative assembly. Luther Jackson, guild executive officer, said Mr. Tobar was committed to helping fellow union members and also won 10 company awards for service to customers.
Mary Gottschalk, former longtime fashion and style editor, said she and Mr. Tobar ''had great conversations following the many award shows on television, and he was always right on the mark in comments about what different actresses and actors wore and whether or not it was flattering. He would have been a great commentator.''
The fourth generation San Josean went to work at the Mercury News after graduating from Camden High School, but what he really wanted to do was be in show business, according to his daughter, Stephanie Dasalla.
''He took me almost every summer to Disneyland,'' she said. Yet, she said, the trip also would include a visit to Universal Studios and the Hollywood Wax Museum to see likenesses of his favorite stars, like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
Glenn Lovell, Mercury News film critic, said, ''Joe was incorrigibly star-struck. He loved to talk about movies, the Oscars, and would never fail to ask at the coffee urn what I thought of this or that. A real movie fan.''
Retired ad sales representative Percy Correos vividly recalls Mr. Tobar belting out ''New York, New York'' in Frank Sinatra style at a birthday party for Correos at San Jose's Fourth Street Bowl.
A tenor with the Funtime Singers, a San Jose group, Mr. Tobar picked the same tune at an early morning karaoke fundraiser for the United Way in the company cafeteria.
This spring, his daughter said, Mr. Tobar finally fulfilled a longtime dream of visiting New York.
He came back to the Mercury News with an innovative Gotham hairstyle but was the same gentle, thoughtful person.
Ron Steeves, then new to the vendor sales department, said, ''The first time I passed Joe in the hallway, I felt compelled to introduce myself . . . he was very approachable. He immediately remembered my name and would always say hello and share a kind word with me. Although I did not get a chance to know Joe for very long, I believe it would be accurate to say that he was a kind and giving individual who shared his happiness with everyone around him.''
San Jose Mercury News (CA) - July 24, 2003
JOSEPH TOBAR , 'KIND AND GENTLE MAN' - ADMIRED BY HIS CUSTOMERS, CO-WORKERS AT MERCURY NEWS
Author: BETTY BARNACLE, Mercury News
If a company is lucky, there'll always be a Joe Tobar kind of guy on its staff.
The original was at the Mercury News for 33 years.
Many will remember him walking down the hall in his bow tie and neatly buttoned vest, mischievously denying his own formality by topping it regularly with a New York Yankees' cap.
Mr. Tobar died July 21 at age 53 of a heart blockage while on medical leave for a bad back. He worked in customer services in the paper's advertising department.
His charisma was something so elusive that even the wordsmiths at the newspaper found it hard to express.
Among the e-mails the paper received from current and past colleagues, Roberta Quadro commented on a card that Sylvia Lang created on her computer and posted after word of Mr. Tobar 's death spread through the building.
''Below Joe's picture,'' Quadro wrote, ''it says, 'A kind and gentle man who was always willing to lend a hand.' If it's possible for a person to be summed up in merely one sentence, that was the perfect sentence to describe Joe.''
At his Mercury News retirement party just after Mr. Tobar 's death, Lou Alexander, the advertising operations chief, praised Mr. Tobar's dedicated work for customers who ''would wait on hold until Joe was free so they could give him their proof corrections.'' He also reported that when these same customers visited the newspaper plant, they agreed it would be nice to meet the publisher, ''but they insisted on meeting Joe.''
Mr. Tobar was a union shop steward in his ad services department and was twice elected to the San Jose Newspaper Guild's representative assembly. Luther Jackson, guild executive officer, said Mr. Tobar was committed to helping fellow union members and also won 10 company awards for service to customers.
Mary Gottschalk, former longtime fashion and style editor, said she and Mr. Tobar ''had great conversations following the many award shows on television, and he was always right on the mark in comments about what different actresses and actors wore and whether or not it was flattering. He would have been a great commentator.''
The fourth generation San Josean went to work at the Mercury News after graduating from Camden High School, but what he really wanted to do was be in show business, according to his daughter, Stephanie Dasalla.
''He took me almost every summer to Disneyland,'' she said. Yet, she said, the trip also would include a visit to Universal Studios and the Hollywood Wax Museum to see likenesses of his favorite stars, like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
Glenn Lovell, Mercury News film critic, said, ''Joe was incorrigibly star-struck. He loved to talk about movies, the Oscars, and would never fail to ask at the coffee urn what I thought of this or that. A real movie fan.''
Retired ad sales representative Percy Correos vividly recalls Mr. Tobar belting out ''New York, New York'' in Frank Sinatra style at a birthday party for Correos at San Jose's Fourth Street Bowl.
A tenor with the Funtime Singers, a San Jose group, Mr. Tobar picked the same tune at an early morning karaoke fundraiser for the United Way in the company cafeteria.
This spring, his daughter said, Mr. Tobar finally fulfilled a longtime dream of visiting New York.
He came back to the Mercury News with an innovative Gotham hairstyle but was the same gentle, thoughtful person.
Ron Steeves, then new to the vendor sales department, said, ''The first time I passed Joe in the hallway, I felt compelled to introduce myself . . . he was very approachable. He immediately remembered my name and would always say hello and share a kind word with me. Although I did not get a chance to know Joe for very long, I believe it would be accurate to say that he was a kind and giving individual who shared his happiness with everyone around him.''
TOBAR, Joseph A. Jr. -- Age 53, at rest Monday, July 21, 2003 in San Jose, California. Native and life long resident of San Jose, California. Advertising Services Clerk at the San Jose Mercury News for 33 years. Beloved son of Joseph Sr., and Margaret Tobar. Loving father of Stephanie Dasalla and son-in-law Paul Dasalla. Funeral services will be Friday, July 25, 2003 at 12:00 p.m. held at DARLING & FISCHER CHAPEL OF THE HILLS, 615 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Interment to follow at Los Gatos Memorial Park, San Jose.
San Jose Mercury News (CA) - July 24, 2003
JOSEPH TOBAR , 'KIND AND GENTLE MAN' - ADMIRED BY HIS CUSTOMERS, CO-WORKERS AT MERCURY NEWS
Author: BETTY BARNACLE, Mercury News
If a company is lucky, there'll always be a Joe Tobar kind of guy on its staff.
The original was at the Mercury News for 33 years.
Many will remember him walking down the hall in his bow tie and neatly buttoned vest, mischievously denying his own formality by topping it regularly with a New York Yankees' cap.
Mr. Tobar died July 21 at age 53 of a heart blockage while on medical leave for a bad back. He worked in customer services in the paper's advertising department.
His charisma was something so elusive that even the wordsmiths at the newspaper found it hard to express.
Among the e-mails the paper received from current and past colleagues, Roberta Quadro commented on a card that Sylvia Lang created on her computer and posted after word of Mr. Tobar 's death spread through the building.
''Below Joe's picture,'' Quadro wrote, ''it says, 'A kind and gentle man who was always willing to lend a hand.' If it's possible for a person to be summed up in merely one sentence, that was the perfect sentence to describe Joe.''
At his Mercury News retirement party just after Mr. Tobar 's death, Lou Alexander, the advertising operations chief, praised Mr. Tobar's dedicated work for customers who ''would wait on hold until Joe was free so they could give him their proof corrections.'' He also reported that when these same customers visited the newspaper plant, they agreed it would be nice to meet the publisher, ''but they insisted on meeting Joe.''
Mr. Tobar was a union shop steward in his ad services department and was twice elected to the San Jose Newspaper Guild's representative assembly. Luther Jackson, guild executive officer, said Mr. Tobar was committed to helping fellow union members and also won 10 company awards for service to customers.
Mary Gottschalk, former longtime fashion and style editor, said she and Mr. Tobar ''had great conversations following the many award shows on television, and he was always right on the mark in comments about what different actresses and actors wore and whether or not it was flattering. He would have been a great commentator.''
The fourth generation San Josean went to work at the Mercury News after graduating from Camden High School, but what he really wanted to do was be in show business, according to his daughter, Stephanie Dasalla.
''He took me almost every summer to Disneyland,'' she said. Yet, she said, the trip also would include a visit to Universal Studios and the Hollywood Wax Museum to see likenesses of his favorite stars, like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
Glenn Lovell, Mercury News film critic, said, ''Joe was incorrigibly star-struck. He loved to talk about movies, the Oscars, and would never fail to ask at the coffee urn what I thought of this or that. A real movie fan.''
Retired ad sales representative Percy Correos vividly recalls Mr. Tobar belting out ''New York, New York'' in Frank Sinatra style at a birthday party for Correos at San Jose's Fourth Street Bowl.
A tenor with the Funtime Singers, a San Jose group, Mr. Tobar picked the same tune at an early morning karaoke fundraiser for the United Way in the company cafeteria.
This spring, his daughter said, Mr. Tobar finally fulfilled a longtime dream of visiting New York.
He came back to the Mercury News with an innovative Gotham hairstyle but was the same gentle, thoughtful person.
Ron Steeves, then new to the vendor sales department, said, ''The first time I passed Joe in the hallway, I felt compelled to introduce myself . . . he was very approachable. He immediately remembered my name and would always say hello and share a kind word with me. Although I did not get a chance to know Joe for very long, I believe it would be accurate to say that he was a kind and giving individual who shared his happiness with everyone around him.''
San Jose Mercury News (CA) - July 24, 2003
JOSEPH TOBAR , 'KIND AND GENTLE MAN' - ADMIRED BY HIS CUSTOMERS, CO-WORKERS AT MERCURY NEWS
Author: BETTY BARNACLE, Mercury News
If a company is lucky, there'll always be a Joe Tobar kind of guy on its staff.
The original was at the Mercury News for 33 years.
Many will remember him walking down the hall in his bow tie and neatly buttoned vest, mischievously denying his own formality by topping it regularly with a New York Yankees' cap.
Mr. Tobar died July 21 at age 53 of a heart blockage while on medical leave for a bad back. He worked in customer services in the paper's advertising department.
His charisma was something so elusive that even the wordsmiths at the newspaper found it hard to express.
Among the e-mails the paper received from current and past colleagues, Roberta Quadro commented on a card that Sylvia Lang created on her computer and posted after word of Mr. Tobar 's death spread through the building.
''Below Joe's picture,'' Quadro wrote, ''it says, 'A kind and gentle man who was always willing to lend a hand.' If it's possible for a person to be summed up in merely one sentence, that was the perfect sentence to describe Joe.''
At his Mercury News retirement party just after Mr. Tobar 's death, Lou Alexander, the advertising operations chief, praised Mr. Tobar's dedicated work for customers who ''would wait on hold until Joe was free so they could give him their proof corrections.'' He also reported that when these same customers visited the newspaper plant, they agreed it would be nice to meet the publisher, ''but they insisted on meeting Joe.''
Mr. Tobar was a union shop steward in his ad services department and was twice elected to the San Jose Newspaper Guild's representative assembly. Luther Jackson, guild executive officer, said Mr. Tobar was committed to helping fellow union members and also won 10 company awards for service to customers.
Mary Gottschalk, former longtime fashion and style editor, said she and Mr. Tobar ''had great conversations following the many award shows on television, and he was always right on the mark in comments about what different actresses and actors wore and whether or not it was flattering. He would have been a great commentator.''
The fourth generation San Josean went to work at the Mercury News after graduating from Camden High School, but what he really wanted to do was be in show business, according to his daughter, Stephanie Dasalla.
''He took me almost every summer to Disneyland,'' she said. Yet, she said, the trip also would include a visit to Universal Studios and the Hollywood Wax Museum to see likenesses of his favorite stars, like Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
Glenn Lovell, Mercury News film critic, said, ''Joe was incorrigibly star-struck. He loved to talk about movies, the Oscars, and would never fail to ask at the coffee urn what I thought of this or that. A real movie fan.''
Retired ad sales representative Percy Correos vividly recalls Mr. Tobar belting out ''New York, New York'' in Frank Sinatra style at a birthday party for Correos at San Jose's Fourth Street Bowl.
A tenor with the Funtime Singers, a San Jose group, Mr. Tobar picked the same tune at an early morning karaoke fundraiser for the United Way in the company cafeteria.
This spring, his daughter said, Mr. Tobar finally fulfilled a longtime dream of visiting New York.
He came back to the Mercury News with an innovative Gotham hairstyle but was the same gentle, thoughtful person.
Ron Steeves, then new to the vendor sales department, said, ''The first time I passed Joe in the hallway, I felt compelled to introduce myself . . . he was very approachable. He immediately remembered my name and would always say hello and share a kind word with me. Although I did not get a chance to know Joe for very long, I believe it would be accurate to say that he was a kind and giving individual who shared his happiness with everyone around him.''
Inscription
"Loving Father and Son - Forever Loved"
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
