By Rev. Brian R. Louis
Sept. 24, 2023 – Last week the man who brought me on board at Bloomberg News back in 2006 died unexpectedly. Rob Urban was a great journalist, and an incisive editor. He was funny, good natured, and brilliant. A little while after I heard the shocking news of his death, it dawned on me that Rob, a professed atheist, helped pave the way for me to become a minister. I think Rob would’ve gotten a kick out of that.
By hiring me, Rob gave me a good job with good pay, better pay than a lot of journalists. I had great benefits at Bloomberg, including matching contributions to my 401k account. Putting together a nice nest egg for retirement helped give me the courage to leave journalism after 25 years to pursue a different calling and route in life.
That route led me to leave Bloomberg in 2018, and the next January to enroll in the University of Chicago Divinity School. The route then went through the arduous multi-year ordination process of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and finally from Chicago out to Faith Presbyterian Church in the beautiful high desert of Sierra Vista, Arizona in late 2022.
Rob hired me for the job that allowed me to save money and qualify for a mortgage and to buy a condominium unit in Chicago. Ten years later I sold that condo and used the profit to pay for school and living expenses so I could go to school full time.
Most years I was at Bloomberg, I remembered on my anniversary day to either message or call Rob and thank him for hiring me. I can’t recall much of what he said in response to that. He was kind and polite and he’d always ask me how I was doing. Rob looked out for the people who worked for him; he insulated my co-workers and I from a lot of the heat from the higher ups. Rob and I didn’t have the kind of relationship where he was effusive emotionally. He was always kind and understanding and I always knew he lived life to the fullest. I don’t know where he got his energy to go to a club or see a show after a long day at work.
I only knew Rob from afar. I worked for him half-way across the country for just a few years, he in New York, and me in Chicago. We had limited interactions on Facebook in recent years, and that was about it.
He loved his two children, and he was always talking about them. He always tried to attend their activities at school, even if it was during the day. I admired his devotion to his kids.
I’ll never forget, and I’ll always be grateful to Rob for hiring me. It may not have meant that much to him, but that decision helped give me the life to pay for the preparation for my new life as a minister years later.
Thanks Rob.
A Reformed Pastor 