Kansas City Biz Journal reporter Roberts has died

Longtime Kansas City Business Journal reporter Rob Roberts died at his home early Monday.

Business Journal editor Brian Kaberline writes, “In a career that spanned 38 years, Roberts worked at all levels of journalism, from reporter to editor to publisher and owner. He gained a reputation as a hard-driving journalist among Kansas City-area readers while eliciting fierce devotion from sources and members of the community for his curiosity and fairness. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a journalism degree in 1980, Roberts took a reporting job with The Journal Herald in Shawnee. In 1983, he became owner and publisher of the publication, expanding its coverage area and more than doubling its circulation by the time he sold it in 1994.

“From there, Roberts held a variety of editor positions in the Kansas City area and Junction City, Kan. Roberts joined the Kansas City Business Journal in 2004, covering health care and a range of other topics. He took on the real estate and development beats when Jim Davis, who had that beat for years, no longer could work due to cancer.

“On the real estate beat, Roberts chronicled the renaissance of downtown Kansas City, the continued build-up of Johnson County, the rise of NorthPoint Development and VanTrust Real Estate LLC, and a wave of new residential and commercial projects along the Kansas City streetcar line.”

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