This was originally posted on Facebook.
June 5, 2024, update. Arrangements for have been posted. Farewell will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, in Nashville, with an emergency services escort to begin the journey back to New Jersey. Burial services with fire department honors will be held at Monday in Cinnaminson, NJ. See obituary for details.
We’ve learned that veteran fire photographer Bob Bartosz passed away this week. He had made Nash County his home since 2009, relocating from the Camden-Philly area, where he had shot fires for decades. Obituary and arrangements are forthcoming.
Bob started as the official photographer for Camden County, NJ, in 1954, and was appointed Camden city’s official fire photographer in 1964. He was also an honorary CFD Battalion Chief. He was active in the Camden-Philly area for many decades. His photos were featured as Fire Engineering covers a number of times during those decades.
By trade he was a photographer for the Camden Courier-Post newspaper, where he worked from 1959 until he retired in 1982. He also served as a Pennsauken Township volunteer firefighter and a Delaware River Port Authority police officer in the 1960s.
Bob shot news and sports photos for the newspaper. He later worked for Fleer, taking pictures for baseball trading cards. He also won awards for both his news and fire photos, such a November 1969 photo of a Moratorium March in Washington D.C. that won four first-place awards at the city, state, and national level.
He retired from his official fire photographer roles in 2009, and he and his wife Pat relocated to Nash County, NC. He was soon taking pictures here, and was made official photographer for Rocky Mount and other area departments. He also submitted pictures and stories to firenews.net, firehouse.com, and other outlets.
Over the decades, Bob published two books of his work, “Black and White and Red All Over” (1971) and “Tin Helmets, Iron Men: Philadelphia Fires in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s” (2001). In 2016, he co-authored “Nash County Heroes 24/7” with Todd Joyner.
In November 2018, Bob received a Distinguished Service Award from Rocky Mount FD, for his outstanding field photography and event documentation for the department.
See comments for some news profiles of Bob, from back in the day.