Harre Wilkins Demoro (July 8, 1939–March 19, 1993) was an American journalist and author from the San Francisco Bay Area who primarily covered public transportation and ferries. He worked for several newspapers in the Bay Area, including the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune, and covered the development of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Demoro authored 14 books on transportation history.
Early life
Demoro was born in Oakland, California. His father, Rafael, was a pharmacist and rail historian who held a collection of historic railroad and ship photographs. Demoro attended St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda, Oakland City College, and California State College at Hayward. He had sold photographs to local newspapers while working as a carrier for the Alameda Times.
Career
After serving in the U.S. Army, Demoro joined the San Leandro Morning News as a reporter in 1962. He wrote articles for the Fremont News Register, San Jose Mercury, and Hayward Morning News in his early career. After a move to the Oakland Tribune in 1967, Demoro began to focus on transportation reporting and covered the development of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. He was selected to join a delegation from the United States Department of Transportation on a trip to the Soviet Union in 1971 to examine the country's transportation systems. Demoro joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 1981 as a business reporter and was assigned to the transportation desk in 1984. He worked for the Chronicle until his death in 1993.
His first book, BART at Mid-point, was published in 1968 ahead of the system's opening. Demoro had intended to write his second book on the history of the Key System—one of the largest defunct Bay Area rail and ferry operators—but instead turned his focus to the Washington State Ferries system due to their shared history. The Evergreen Fleet was published in 1971 with a foreword written by Washington governor Daniel J. Evans. Demoro wrote a two-part history of the Key System in 1985 that was published using records that were saved from destruction and kept at a rented storage unit for preservation.
Outside of his writing career, Demoro was board chairman of the Western Railway Museum in Solano County, California, and president of the Press Club of San Francisco.
Personal life
He was married to Jo Murray, a public relations executive and former Tribune editor, and had one daughter before their separation. Demoro died on March 19, 1993, after heart surgery at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, at the age of 53.
List of works
References
External links