Joseph T. Rucker was, for the better part of his forty year career, a
newsreel cameraman for Paramount News. He is remembered for filming the
1915 opening of the Panama Canal, the aftermath of the 1923 Tokyo
earthquake, the 1927 civil war in China and
Richard E. Byrd Jr.'s
1928 and 1930 expeditions to Antarctica. In the latter expedition, he
and fellow cameraman,
Willard Van der Veer brought back
over 160,000 feet of raw footage. During the Second World War, Rucker
covered the conflict in the Pacific aboard the American aircraft
carrier Enterprise.
Rucker was born on 1 January, 1887, in Atlanta, Georgia, the
second son of George G. and Sarah Millikan Rucker. His father, who had
for a number of years been a cotton broker in Virginia, died sometime
before 1900.
Rucker passed away in San Francisco on 21 October, 1957, two
years after his retirement. He was survived by his wife of forty-two
years, the former Cecile Kaufman (1893-1975), a daughter Frances Joy
and son Joseph.