A newspaperman in every sense of the word, Robert Rector’s 50-year career in journalism spanned events of historical import as well as local news. But every year, he also compiled a list of the best and worst corrections issued by publications and television stations.

“Why commemorate mistakes? After all, journalism is a profession that prides itself on accuracy,” he wrote in 2015. “It seems a little humor is good medicine when you spend your days covering a world that seems to have gone mad.”

The column itself merited a correction of its own, clarifying the list was not exclusively from 2015.

“The irony of these corrections,” Rector noted, “is not lost.”

Rector, city editor of the Pasadena Star-News from 2001 to 2007 and later a prolific columnist, died on Sept. 4, in his hometown o

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