07/15/2021
David Freiburger has always been one of the few staffers to take time to really know the Archive and promote its incredible legacy. Here, he gives a fitting tribute to the man responsible for its inception and its upkeep from the mid-'50s through the mid-'90s, photographer Bob D'Olivo. Bob was a personal friend to me as well. Dave Wallace Jr. and I tried, as often as possible, to have him host a live session of "Where It All Began" for historians and people of historical interest. At one point after his retirement Bob feared that the Archive he so lovingly nurtured would be eventually be forsaken. His fears were justified, but David and Dave worked hard through those times to insure that the Petersen legacy found its way into print whenever possible. In 2010 I was named to oversee the reorganization, reintegration, and digitization of the Archive, which had been officially unattended for 15 years. Bob personally contacted me afterward to express his deep gratitude. I told him it was I that should be expressing gratitude to him for his foresight and discipline in creating one of the finest enthusiast (not just automotive, but firearm, motorcycle, outdoor, cultural, celebrity, et. al.) archives ever to exist. I could go on at length to describe the myriad experiences he captured for the rest of us to enjoy, but those stories and behind the scene remembrances are worthy of a book, not a simple acknowledgement like this. Bob, you were a great mentor and inspiration to me. You will be sorely missed by those that knew you. Long live your images, your memories, your experiences, and your legacy, my friend.
Bob D’Olivo has passed away at 94, one of the biggest loses to magazine history. D’Olivo worked at Petersen Publishing from 1952 to 1996, starting as a photographer and soon becoming director of the photo department. He brought a new level of craft to the images in countless Petersen mags, from Hot Rod to Motor Trend and beyond, and he’s responsible for organizing the Petersen Photo Archive in 1955 (prior to that, most negatives were lost after being published). According to a story by Dave Wallace Jr., “Beyond accepting obvious motorsports assignments, including more than 30 Indy 500s, Daytona 500s, and Bonneville Speed Weeks, D'Olivo (pronounced "Duh-leave-oh") photographed Johnny Weissmuller underwater, Annette Funicello eating dinner at her parents' modest kitchen table, The Supremes jumping on a motel-room bed, the unknown Linda Evans as a race queen, Ronald Reagan at his ranch, the dancers of American Bandstand in Philadelphia, and Pete Petersen on month-long African safaris, six times. Bob's talent took him to Siberia, Sweden, Germany, England, France, Mexico, Switzerland, Greece, Japan, Canada, most countries in Africa, and all over America, from his native New England to San Quentin, California, to shoot the notorious gas chamber.” And that’s just a start. In his working years as I knew him, D’Olivo did not suffer fools and could be cantankerous. As a retiree, he found a new role as one who enjoyed and shared his history warmly. He was always there to help when I emailed old images and questions to his FuzzyFotos email address. In the pic, he’s busy being too good looking for Zsa Zsa Gabor some time in the ‘50s. This is a real blow to the legacy of hot rodding and publishing. Godspeed, Bob D’Olivo.
