No one was more capable to sit at the helm of The Virginian-Pilot photo desk than William Abourjilie — Abby.
The big man with a big heart started at The Pilot in the early 1950s and retired in the late ’90s. He was a staff photographer back in the film days, photographing the likes of Jackie Kennedy during the christening of the original USS John F. Kennedy, a Joe DiMaggio Little League game in Norfolk, Ray Charles at the Dome, basketball legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving and the construction of Scope in Norfolk.
But most of us remember Abby, who died Thursday in Norfolk at age 90, as the manager of the photo department.
“The people who worked for him loved him. He took care of us,” said Bill Tiernan, a retired staff photographer.
That’s what you will hear from most who were under his watch: Always there to check in and help, unless it was 11.30 a.m. Then, like clockwork, Abby was somewhere in downtown Norfolk for lunch, with whatever photographers were in the office at the time. I can still hear him in the hallway saying, “Come on. Let’s go get something to eat.”
Abby ran a tight ship. Wrangling the personalities of 18-plus photographers to coordinate the assignments of a newsroom with over 200 people was no small task in the analog paper-trail era.
William Abourjilie, (Abby, center back), celebrating his retirement from The Virginian-Pilot with the photo department in the late 90s. (Bill Tierrnan)
“I was young and in over my head,” said Beth Nakamura, a staff photographer in the ’90s. “Abby took care of me; he was just that guy. I cried over the phone when I heard the news he passed. I just thought to myself he is back with Judy (Abby’s wife who passed away years ago). He made that place feel like home and that is a rare thing.”
Vicki Cronis-Nohe, another former Pilot photographer, said Abourjilie was “old school and looked out for you.”
“Abby was like talking to your dad,” Cronis-Nohe said. “He was a dream boss. You were not just an employee, you were a person first. He even looked in on me after he retired, when my son was born. What do you need, what can I do? Abby was one of the great darlings of the world.”
The Pilot is nationally known for photojournalism, and I started bringing photos to the office for Abby to look at during the mid-1980s. Thumbing through the pages of what I called a portfolio back then — mostly a collection of surf photos — Abby would be generous.
“I think you need more experience, maybe some schooling,” he said.
Years down the road, I got some experience. And I did go to photo school. Now, after 32 years as a photographer with the paper, I do the job Abby once did.
I learned from one of the best: Take care of the photographers. Respect the photos. And when it’s time for lunch, go eat.
https://www.dailypress.com/2026/02/22/remembering-abby-abourjilie/
