Albert Sitter, Colleague of Don Bolles At 'Ariz Republic,' Dead At 85

By: E&P Staff Albert Sitter -- an Arizona Republic investigative reporter whose work was so hard-hitting colleagues at first feared he, not Don Bolles, was the was victim of assassination - died Sunday at age 85.

In an obituary in Monday's Republic, reporter Megan Boehnke reported that the when the first reports came into the newsroom that a reporter had been killed in a gangland-style car bombing, "most everyone thought it was Albert Sitter, whose recent reporting had exposed a broad land-fraud scheme and led to the indictment of a powerful real-estate conman."

When Sitter walked into the newsroom a little later, the then-city editor, Bob Early looked at him and shouted, "You're alive!" The bombing had killed Sitter's fellow investigative reporter Don Bolles.

Sitter died Sunday of several longtime illness, including cancer and dementia, the Republic reported.

Sitter and Bolles were the Republic's "ace" investigative reporters, the newspaper said. "Most of Sitter's work revolved around consumer reporting, including outing local television repair shops that cheated customers, grocery stores that raised prices on the day welfare checks were issued and a diamond-selling scheme involving fake gems," the paper said, quoting Early, who was Sitter's primary editor.

The stories led to death threats, the newspaper, added. Sitter's wife of 60 years, Alma Sitter, said police occasionally had to keep watch over their house at night.

"Al was a great reporter, probably the best we ever had in doing the criminal investigative work," said former Republic reporter Chuck Kelly, who said he at first assumed it was Sitter who had been killed in the Bolles' bombing.
Sitter retired in 1987, after a 24-year tenure at the newspaper.

In addition to his wife, Sitter is survived by two daughters, Diane McKechnie, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Tere Lang, of Mesa, Ariz.; two sons, Frank Sitter, of Phoenix, and Joe Sitter, of Gilbert, Ariz. He had three grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.