Remembering Bob Begun

As we reported yesterday, former Capitola mayor and local media presence Robert "Bob" Begun . 

His from 2000 to 2010 as treasurer, councilman and mayor were enormous, and here on Capitola-Soquel Patch, he was also an important piece of the puzzle.

Back in mid-spring of this year, we launched our Local Voices blogging platform, in which anyone with something to say gets to say it. One of those voices was Bob's. 

As we were getting ready to bring Local Voices to Patch, the name Bob Begun came through my email inbox. Recommended by another city staff member, Bob seemed a perfect fit to bring experienced political commentary to the site.

We decided to meet at  to talk Patch, blogging and to get to know each other. I left our meeting completely impressed. Many people much younger than 84 have no clue what a blog is. Bob knew.

He was inquisitive about the site, about me and about my thoughts on the future of Capitola and local media. He was excited to be part of that. 

He was also still ambitious. As we snacked and chatted, an acquaintance of Bob's approached us and asked him if he planned on running for public office again. He said he hadn't yet ruled it out.

From May to August, Bob submitted posts on local issues including , the  and . Given the chance, I'm sure he would have continued to build his audience and platform on Patch.

The flag outside Capitola City Hall will fly at half-staff in his memory this week and tonight's city council meeting will be dedicated to him as well. 

Do you have any memories of Bob Begun? Please share in the comments below.