Branford — Robert A. Colby, 74, an accomplished editor at The Day for nearly three decades who became one of the most popular members of the newsroom staff, died Friday at The Connecticut Hospice after waging a dogged battle against cancer.

Colby started working at the paper in 1968 and retired in 1996.

Over the years, he served as a copy editor and chief of the news desk, where he was responsible for the layout of pages and flow of copy.

He later became city editor, a position that placed him in charge of reporters, and then community news editor.

He previously worked at the Manchester Herald.

Colby was a son of The Day’s late publisher Barnard L. Colby.

Outside the office, he regularly helped people who had fallen upon hard times.

As a recovering alcoholic himself, he served as a mentor for more than two dozen alcoholics over the years, according to Bill D., a longtime friend and fellow member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Morgan McGinley, retired editor of the editorial page, said, “Bob actively helped people in need and earned their respect for his good counsel. He was a good guy and just a pleasant person to be around.”

Former publisher Reid MacCluggage said he named Colby community news editor largely because he knew southeastern Connecticut, its communities and people.

“And when it came down to it, temperament was the deciding factor,” MacCluggage said.

In the mid-1980s MacCluggage added a new section to the paper called Neighbors.

As editor of the section, Colby dealt with various communities at ground level, directing a small staff of reporters who wrote about ordinary people and their daily lives.

The section relied heavily on the coverage of clubs and various community and civic organizations. Colby excelled at the job.

MacCluggage said he saw Neighbors as getting the kind of news to readers that they otherwise weren’t getting.

“I think it’s a mistake not to have it now,” he said. “It covered a lot of bases for us.”

There was some grumbling about nepotism in the newsroom when The Day hired the publisher’s son.

That problem dissipated, however, when Colby proved himself competent and likeable.

Greg Stone, a veteran of The Day’s news and editorial departments, addressed the situation in "The Day Paper," a book chronicling the newspaper’s history.

He wrote that Colby won the staff’s goodwill because “the son possessed his father’s sense of humor, charm and character.”

Colby said he became sober in 1970 when he hit “rock bottom” and briefly became addicted to medications he was taking to help him through a tough recovery from alcohol addiction.

He suffered from an addictive personality, he acknowledged.

His younger sister, Dorothy, had a drinking problem of her own. Today, she is 23 years sober, and she credits that to her brother.

“He called me and said, ‘Dottie, you’ll never believe how wonderful my life is now.’ And I became sober. He gave me a glimmer of hope,” she said, adding that their relationship became much closer since that time.

Colby once had a monthslong affair with gambling.

He regularly would travel to Plainfield to a now-shuttered greyhound racing track.

He told friends that he would stay all day long.

“And then when evening came I would think, ‘If I really hurry I can make the daily double, and I’d get into my car and go,’” he once said.

After 1970, AA became a passion.

Colby commonly would attend meetings of the 12-step recovery group on a daily basis. He said he needed it to keep him on the path of a recovering alcoholic.

Bill D., his longtime friend, said Colby positively affected the lives of many who were having difficulty shaking the alcoholic habit.

“It wasn’t about him,” Bill D. said. “He listened to people and asked what he could do to help. He was into AA up to his ears.”

Colby made countless friends over the years.

When cancer affected him so badly that he had difficulty leaving his home in Guilford, his AA peers began holding regular Saturday meetings at his house.

He met his future wife, Margaret, in 1976 on what she says was the only blind date she ever went on. They married about a year later.

Colby had been very much into boating since his youth — his first vessel was a 10-foot aluminum power boat. The family later purchased a 25-foot Boston trawler.

Margaret Colby still owns Thumper, a Grand Banks trawler in which they made five trips to Sarasota, Fla., taking about 2½ months each way, as they would make stops for Colby to attend AA meetings.

On their trips, Colby was the captain and his wife was the navigator. They established lasting relationships at each stop.

"It was always more about the trip than the destination,” Margaret Colby said.

Funeral arrangements are not yet complete.