Obituary: Harvey Rockwood, longtime Twin Cities suburban journalist

Harvey Rockwood spent 30 years at police stations, school boards and Main Streets across the Twin Cities, chronicling stories big and small.

He was an editor and reporter for weekly newspapers serving more than a dozen communities from 1980 to 2010, an era of striking suburban growth. He mentored scores of cub reporters along the way.

An offbeat journalist, he is remembered as the guy wearing the beige photographer vest, camera around his neck, and notebook in his pocket.

Rockwood, who last worked at the Bloomington Sun Current, died March 13 at age 63 from complications of Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia.

"He worked in New Hope, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Fridley, Wayzata — all over the Twin Cities," said his wife, Marcia Rockwood of Little Canada. "The newsroom wasn't just a job. It was his world."

"He was colorful and a bit of a hell-raiser," joked Lisa Legge, an editor at the Pioneer Press who was among the many young reporters he took under his wing. "He stood up to City Council people … and he really set us on fire for journalism."

Rockwood grew up in Fergus Falls, the son of Philo and Carol Rockwood. He attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, earning a journalism degree in 1975. After reporting stints in Redwood Falls and Wausau, Wis., he returned to Minnesota, settling into covering news for the Focus newspapers in the northern suburbs and Sun Current newspapers in the western and southern suburbs.

"He loved the spirit of community," said Marcia Rockwood. "You could really get to know people in the school district, in law enforcement, in the community. That leads to more personal stories."

But Rockwood was no pushover, said Legge. "Harvey was fearless about confronting public officials and police, and even the Sun management as he repeatedly tried to start a union," said Legge.

From 1995 to 2009, Rockwood was community editor at the Bloomington Sun Current. Mike Westholder, a manager there at the time, said Rockwood had a contagious enthusiasm. For example, he'd still get excited about coyote sightings in a neighborhood and head out with his camera.

"He had a way of putting people at ease," said Westholder. "People generally liked him."

Rockwood, with his gray hair and wire-rimmed glasses, was the "newsroom sage," he said. He particularly enjoyed police reporting, but he covered countless other stories, including the political ambitions of then-Brooklyn Park Mayor Jesse Ventura, the tale of a family's wait for a heart transplant for their child, and a series on suburban poverty that earned awards in 2008 from the Suburban News­papers of America.

The line between reporter and family man was often blurred, joked his wife. Rockwood went practically nowhere without his police scanner. It was at his desk, in his car and at his home, where he often stayed up late into the night listening for news tips and tornado sightings.

"He once got a story just by listening late at night and hearing that a sheriff's deputy got busted for skinny dipping," laughed Legge.

"He was an investigative reporter by trade, but he had a strong passion about writing people's stories," said Marcia Rockwood. Services have been held.