Bob Hax (Photo from 1986 by the IJ’s Stuart Lorette)

Bob Hax, an award winning photographer who worked for the Marin Independent-Journal for 35 years, died April 30 after suffering an apparent heart attack at age 77, the IJ reports.

“Everybody in the county knew Bob Hax,” said Beth Renneisen, former graphics editor at the newspaper, according to an obit published Saturday. She recalled that politicos of every stripe packed his retirement bash.

He said his toughest shot was of the grieving San Rafael widow of an airline crash victim on PSA flight 1771 the year before. He said he felt like an intruder when he got the shot of her face, etched in pain as she clutched a flag in a cemetery. Happier assignments, he recalled, were covering the Bay Area visit of Pope John Paul II and the return home to San Rafael of a soldier held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

A memorial service is set for 2:30 p.m. May 14 at Thanksgiving Lutheran Church in Santa Rosa.