Barbara J. Griffin

Barbara Joy Griffin; former editor for The Detroit News, died of cardiac arrest on Monday, November 2, 2015, at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. She was 72 and a resident of Bloomfield Hills, MI. Barbra was born October 8, 1943, to Glenn and Doris Griffin. She grew up in Pontiac, MI where her family still operates the Sparks-Griffin Funeral Home. After graduation from the University of Michigan in 1965, she taught for two years, then worked two years at the Ypsilanti Press. She landed a job at The Detroit News in 1969 as a writer for the Accent section at a time when it was being transformed from an old-style "women's section" into a contemporary lifestyle and feature section. It was not long before she was made assistant editor in the department. Ultimately, she became Accent Editor. While at The News, she married fellow News reporter Clark Hallas. He and Barb left The News in 1978 for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, where Hallas won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for an investigative series he wrote with colleague Robert Lowe about misuse of funds in the University of Arizona athletics department. She worked at the same paper as Entertainment Editor. The couple left Tucson in 1983 for job offers in Ohio, where he went to work for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and she served as Features Editor for the Akron Beacon Journal until 1987, when they both accepted positions at the Pittsburgh Press in PA. He as a reporter and she as Assistant Managing Editor for Features. Mr. Hallas died in 1992. That same year, the Pittsburgh Press ceased publication after a long and bitter strike. The paper was absorbed by the competing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she continued her editing career and became Assistant Managing Editor for News, supervising more than 70 reporters covering regional, state, city and suburban news, as well as specialty writers covering healthcare and food. Barb retired from the Post-Gazette in 2001 and a few years later, moved back to her native Michigan. Barbara's strong suit was grooming novice reporters to become good writers and helping good writers to be better reporters. "Barb was a Renaissance woman in journalism, mastering all areas of a features department, as well as hard news, special projects and our newsroom's nascent attempt to tease our stories on television (KDKA-TV)" said Madelyn Ross, retired Managing Editor of the Post-Gazette and Barb's former boss. Ms. Griffin had suffered a variety of serious health problems in recent years. But she still enjoyed gardening, traveling, watching Lake Michigan sunsets, listening to country music, watching U-M football and playing mom to her West Highland White Terrier. In addition to her husband Clark, she was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Christine Bommarito, of Pontiac, MI. She is survived by step-daughter Kelly Hallas and step-son Michael Hallas, both of Lansing, MI; a sister, Pamela (Michael) Mincher of Plymouth, MI; one brother, Tom Griffin, of Lake Orion, MI; brother-in-law Bob Bommarito, of Pontiac, MI; and several nieces and nephews. Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 1pm at SPARKS-GRIFFIN FUNERAL HOME, Pontiac. The family will receive friends from 11:30am until the time of service. Memorial donations may be made to The Michigan Humane Society or to a charity of donor's choice. Reflections may be shared at www.sparksgriffin.com.