Veteran photographer Bill Larkin dies

One of the Alle-Kiski Valley's most well-known and lauded photographers for more than 40 years has died.

William T. Larkin, 63, of Brackenridge, died early Saturday of a heart attack in his home.

Larkin was chief photographer of the Valley News Dispatch.

Larkin worked at the Valley News Dispatch, and its predecessor, the Valley Daily News, for nearly 46 years.

During that time, Larkin won more than 400 awards from both regional and state press photography associations and newspaper groups.

As a news photographer, Larkin was in the public eye every day. For years, he sported a handlebar mustache that he wore waxed and poker straight that made his face as recognizable as his photographs.

He shot news photos of everything from tragic fires and major accidents, sporting events from Little League baseball games to Super Bowls, milestones from the area's first New Year's baby to birthday parties for centenarians, and feature photos that depicted everyday life in the Alle-Kiski Valley. For a time he was seen rushing to events in a Corvette.

"If pictures are worth a thousand words, then Bill Larkin filled a library," said Rick Monti, general manager of the Valley News Dispatch. "He was not only talented. He was the consummate professional. He will be missed — not only at the newspaper, but throughout the entire Valley."

That's because in addition to his work for the newspaper, Larkin also knew thousands of people through his work as an wedding photographer. He shot hundreds of weddings over the years — including taking wedding photographs for the sons' and daughters' weddings of some of his earliest customers.

Larkin also was in the public eye as a volunteer firefighter. He was a member of Eureka Hose Company in Tarentum since 1956, including about 15 as assistant chief and chief. In addition to being a fixture at fire scenes, he was a familiar face for years at the fire company's weekly bingo games at the Tarentum VFW.

He also knew how to catch walleyes in the Allegheny River and in Canadian Lakes where he spent at least a week fishing every year.

"Bill had a love of life. He had that same spirit for life that he brought to his job as a photographer," said Jeff Domenick, managing editor of the Valley News Dispatch. "I was proud to work with him."

"The legacy of Bill Larkin is not in the awards he won," staff photographer Eric Felack said. "It's in the way he helped young photographers along the way. There's a lot of people working in the business because of Bill Larkin."

Pulitzer Prize-winner John Filo remembers Larkin as his mentor when he was a VND summer intern.

"Bill helped me to buy my first camera and his training made me able to get the shots at Kent State University," Filo said. On May 4, 1970 the intern used the camera to shoot photos of students shot by National Guardsmen. Filo won the Pulitzer Prize for the photos. Filo drove from Ohio to the VND. "When I got to the Valley, I basically said, ' Here's the roll' and Bill did all the darkroom work. He printed the Mary Veccio photo," Filo said.

The photo of a screaming anti-war protester Veccio won the highest award in journalism.

Larkin also persuaded the Associated Press to widely use the photo, likely paving the way for the prize.

"Bill taught me how to shoot, how never to have an empty camera, always look at composition and that setting the exposure should be automatic," said Filo, who for the past six years has been chief photographer for CBS.

"Bill was influential to me and there was no one who loved the Valley more than Bill," he said.

Photographer Bill Campbell of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette remembers Larkin for his ability to be intensely competitive without compromising his integrity. "Billy is a class act," Campbell said, refusing to use the past tense. "If you came in from out of town to compete against him, he would fill you in on everything you needed to know and needed to do — knowing that you were competing against him."

For a short time, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams was a competitor of Larkin's with the New Kensington Daily Dispatch before it merged years later with Larkin's Tarentum-based Valley Daily News.

"I knew him from the day he started," Adams said from his home in New York City. "We would be sent to the same assignments.

"He was a fine photographer," Adams said. "He was right for what he did. And he was liked by a lot of people."

Larkin's decades of service to the fire company started on May 18, 1956.

Larkin, then all of age 17, joined Eureka Fire Rescue in the tradition of his father Ken, who would serve as president of the fire company for at least 50 years. His mother Maudell was the Eureka ambulance dispatcher for well over 30 years and still lives on Lock Street in Tarentum.

Bill Larkin stepped into this family tradition, eventually becoming assistant chief in the mid-‘60s and later chief. He decided not to run for the chief position again in the mid-‘80s, and his successor was Rich Heuser.

"Bill was a die-hard fireman," said Chief Heuser. "A great guy — a colorful, very robust individual. Bill once told me that if today were his last day, he probably wouldn't do much of anything any different. He just enjoyed life. Most people who knew Bill would tell you that."

Larkin wouldn't have wanted people spending too much time mourning for him, Heuser said.

"He would have wanted you to hoist your favorite beverage and move on with it."

Heuser, 48, remembers the first large fire he responded to in the early ‘70s: at Tomson's, which Heuser described as a flea market in a building. The site is now a parking lot. Chief Larkin showed Heuser the ropes and what to watch out for, he said.

"Sometimes I'm sure he didn't know whether to grab the hose or the camera," Heuser said.

David Williams is assistant city editor. Contributing: Staff writers Chuck Biedka and Jon Szish.