David Mitchell, weekly editor who exposed a corrupt cult, dies at 79

David Mitchell in his office at The Point Reyes Light in 1988. He edited and published The Light, a weekly newspaper, for 27 years. (Terrence McCarthy for The New York Times)

David Mitchell, a muckraker whose tiny California newspaper challenged the violent drug rehabilitation cult Synanon and, as a result, became one of only a handful of weeklies to win a Pulitzer Prize, died on Oct. 26 at his home in Point Reyes Station, Calif., in Marin County. He was 79.

His wife, Lynn Axelrod Mitchell, said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.

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