From the paper:

Most of his newspaper career was spent at The Republic. He began in 1978 as a copy editor, became sports editor in 1991, assistant manager editor in 1993, and then senior editor, senior director of the newsroom’s Information Center and finally was named a manager editor in March 2008. He retired in June 2009.

“He helped lead The Republic’s local news coverage and his efforts have left a lasting legacy for the Phoenix community,” said Randy Lovely, Republic editor and vice president for news. “He was a hard worker, but he played with equal energy and could also be counted on to lighten the mood and add laughter to the room.”

I don’t know if this is a Republic tradition or not, but the obit is oddly un-nihil nisi bonum:

[I]t was hard to escape some of the ribbing Dozbaba liked to dish out.

“He could insult you like nobody’s business,” Leonard said, “but he always did it with a smile.”

[…]

Former Republic reporter Bob Golfen, who knew him since college, said some of Dozbaba’s ideas, however, could be a bit hard to follow.

“He was a smart guy with great instincts, but he wasn’t always tremendously articulate,” he said.

When reading over a story, Dozbaba might say it was good but that something was missing.

“He seemed to have a deeper understanding of what we needed to do, even if he couldn’t always say it,” Golfen said.