Ray Kabaker; Former VOA Official
Ray Kabaker, former West Coast bureau chief for the Voice of America and a former vice president of the California Bicentennial Commission on the U.S. Constitution, died Monday in La Jolla of cancer.
Kabaker, 56, of Palm Desert, was a correspondent for the VOA in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Washington before heading the agency’s Los Angeles office from 1977 to 1983. After retiring, he taught journalism at USC and wrote a play on the Korean War, “The Meeting Place,” which was produced in Los Angeles in 1984.
In 1987 and 1988, he was chief spokesman for the California Bicentennial Commission on the U.S. Constitution, which promoted the 200th anniversary of the document through ceremonies, parades and educational programs throughout the state. At his death he was executive director of the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Assn.
Kabaker is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, a son, two daughters and a granddaughter, who suggest contributions to the American Cancer Society.
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