September 27, 1931 - March 30, 2008
Al DeBat, photo journalist and world traveler, dies at 76

Alfred Louis DeBat was an international photography expert, photo journalist, bon-vivant and world traveler who circled the globe several times in career and leisure-time adventures that saw him tour more than 175 countries on all five continents. Mr. DeBat has long been recognized as a leading authority on digital imaging and traditional photography. He served as Editor-in-Chief of several prominent national publications, including Digital Imaging Digest, Professional Photographer, Photomethods, and Creative Camera. Working as globetrotting professional magazine photographer for several years, Mr. DeBat also wrote travel articles for Crossroads Magazine and other publications. He was a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). Sought-after as a digital expert, Mr. DeBat most recently served as Technical Editor for major book publishers and has edited several digital imaging and photography volumes. He was also the editor of the local American Society of Media Photographers, Chicago/Midwest, publication, The Loupe, which won first prize several years for best chapter publication. He was senior editor of the Photo Marketing Association International's photo information website: www.Prints-Are-Memories.com. "Whether it was sailing off to the Far East on a tramp steamer, trekking through the jungles of Cambodia to photograph fabled temples at Ankor Wat, or scaling the peaks of Nepal, young Al DeBat-like his hero Ernest Hemingway-was always with passport and on the move," said Don DeBat, his brother.

Mr. DeBat, 76, who died on Sunday, March 30, 2008, in hospice at the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights, IL, proudly displayed a world map in his home that pinpointed his travels-from Africa, China, Afghanistan, and Tahiti to Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Tibet. One of his favorite travel photos shows Al riding a camel while sporting a moustache, goatee, and a burnoose, a hooded cloak favored by Arab sheiks, his brother said. "Over the years, Al collected and displayed in his home dozens of rare folk, native, ceremonial, carnival and theatrical masks from all corners of the globe to remind him of his travels over the past 50 years," said Marla Kalbhen, who shared Mr. DeBat's life and travels for 25 years. Mr. DeBat, who was graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with bachelor's and master's degrees, also was a magazine editor who worked at several Chicago-based publications, including Printer's Ink, Furniture Manufacturing & Design, Rogue, and Playboy, where he was a photo editor and director of foreign editions for a decade. In the late 1970s, Mr. DeBat was assigned to manage Playboy's expansion overseas into several foreign language editions of the magazine, including Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. "As a friend of Al's for more than 55 years, we competed heartedly in chess, in squash and in girl friends," said Howard S. Dubin, chairman of Manufacturers' News, Inc. in Evanston, IL.

"I first recognized his brilliance with a camera at Northwestern when we worked together on Profile, the student magazine," Dubin recalled. "He was ever abreast of the latest photography technology and explained things to me (the editor) in layman's terms." Dubin said when Mr. DeBat was serving in the U.S. Army, he met him in Germany and once again found him teaching his army newspaper comrades about photography and journalism. "He will be sorely missed by his Medill friends, his Chicago friends and his journalism friends worldwide," Dubin said. "Al was one of the most charming people I ever met," said professional photographer Roger Mattingly, a friend. "I was always struck by Al's courtly manner. In another time he would have been dancing in attendance at some noble person's court." Mr. DeBat's love of photography began as a pre-teen growing up in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. "I commandeered the family's folding roll-film camera when I was 12, which eventually led to my career as a globetrotting photojournalist for many years," wrote Editor Al DeBat in a recently published article on introducing children to photography for Digital Imaging Digest. "Photography-particularly digital photography-opens your eyes to the world around you. It makes you a better observer and eventually trains you to capture an event's 'decisive moment,'" he wrote. "Al was always enthusiastic about innovations in photography," said Larry Thall, a Professional Photographer magazine staffer and a close friend. "For a man in his mid-70s, he was able to adapt and embrace new technology."

Survivors include: Marla Kalbhen, who shared Al's life and travels for 25 years; his daughter, Avril DeBat; a sister, Dorothy Galbraith; a brother, Don DeBat; two nieces, Victoria Marie Strong and Aimee DeBat; three nephews, William Scott Galbraith, Gerald Eugene Galbraith and Erik DeBat; and seven great nieces and nephews. A private visitation for the family was held at Glueckert Funeral Home in Arlington Heights, followed by cremation. A celebration of Mr. DeBat's life is scheduled for late this summer.