Critic Glatzer, 78, dies
Arts, film lover came to Spokane for Expo ’74
Longtime Spokane film critic, advertising executive and arts advocate Robert Glatzer died Friday at the age of 78. Glatzer suffered a stroke earlier in the week.
Glatzer came to Spokane in 1973 and served as director of the Expo ’74 Folklife Festival.
Following the World’s Fair, he started the Delany/Glatzer advertising agency and continued that company until the 1980s.
His opinions about movies were widely known across the region, as Glatzer served as the film critic for Spokane Public Radio KPBX.
Born and raised in New York City, Glatzer formed a passion for cinema that led him, in 1964, to start his own film production company that made industrial films and TV commercials.
The Smithsonian Institution hired Glatzer in the early 1970s to begin filming folk festivals in Washington, D.C. That connection brought Glatzer to Spokane to make a film during Expo ’74. He ended up being the person in charge of cultural and folk events during Spokane’s World’s Fair.
He also taught criticism and film directing at area colleges and continued writing about movies. Most of his recent reviews can be found on the website Movies101.com.
He also was founding director of the Spokane International Film Festival.
Glatzer wrote two books, “The New Advertising” and “Beyond Popcorn: A Critic’s Guide to Looking at Films.”
His wife, Mary Ann Murphy, said plans for services are pending. The couple have three grown children: Nicholas, Jessica and Gabriela.