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Remembering Boris Yaro
14 March 2020
Boris Yaro, a photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times for over 40 years who captured the famous image of the mortally-wounded Robert Kennedy in the arms of a busboy, died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Northridge. He was 81.
Colleagues knew him as a hard-driving news hound with several antennas turned to police bands poking out of his company car. He carried two or three cameras, film in every pocket and was on a first-name basis with every fireman and policeman in Los Angeles.
'You can't walk into a newsroom dressed as a bum.'
On the night of Kennedy's 1968 primary win in California, Yaro, a part-timer for the Los Angeles Time, was on his own time just hoping to get a photo of the candidate to display on his wall.
When he heard shots in the hotel pantry, "It was dark and I think I was afraid," he admitted. But seeing Kennedy on the floor he realized he had to start taking photos.
That's when the woman next to him grabbed his sleeve and begged him to stop.
"Damn it, lady, this is history," Yaro said, pulling himself free to keep shooting.
In addition to his career as a photojournalist, Yaro tutored the actor Daryl Anderson who played Animal, the news photographer on the TV series Lou Grant. Unlike the slovenly character on the show, Yaro always went to work in a jacket and tie. "You can't walk into a newsroom dressed as a bum," Yaro said.
Yaro is survived by his wife, Jill, their children Michael Yaro and Nicole Good, and a brother.