By: (AP) Lawrence E. Young, the energetic managing editor of
The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, died Saturday of an apparent heart attack at the age of 47.
Young mentored and inspired a legion of journalists during a 20-year newspaper career at Riverside and several other papers, including the
Arlington (Texas)
Morning News, The Dallas Morning News, and the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"Lawrence was a remarkable man and a remarkable journalist. With his dynamic and charismatic personality, Lawrence was a catalyst for our newsroom," said Maria De Varenne, executive editor and vice president/news at the
Press-Enterprise.
Around 6 p.m. Saturday, Young had called his father on a mobile phone, saying that he wasn't feeling well and needed help. The line then went dead.
Shortly afterward, a motorist found Young slumped over the wheel of his locked Jeep along the side of a Riverside street. Emergency workers were not able to revive him.
Young was named managing editor of the
Press-Enterprise in August 2001 after serving as managing editor and executive editor of the
Arlington Morning News. He previously worked at
The Dallas Morning News for 13 years.
"Lawrence was a very special person, a treasure," said Robert W. Mong Jr., president and editor of
The Dallas Morning News. "Few journalists I've worked with cared as much about developing talent as Lawrence did. It was a mission."
"He had an ability to connect on all levels in a masterful and sincere way," said Scott Farwell, a reporter with the
Press-Enterprise. "He was able to make these connections with assignment editors and senior management just as easily as he did with ... the dry cleaner or the softball team."
Todd Wills, a suburban sports writer for
The Dallas Morning News, described Young as the kind of editor reporters only hope for. "I know it's kind of corny, when people say they have a leader they would run through a wall for, but he was one of those kinds of people," Wills said.
Young was born in Akron, Ohio, where he graduated from high school. He joined the Air Force, becoming a sergeant and military policeman at Castle Air Force Base in Merced, Calif.
He received an associate's degree in photojournalism from Pasadena City College in Pasadena and a bachelor's degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge. He also did graduate studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson; completed an advanced executive program at Northwestern University, and was a McCormick Fellow in 1999.
Young began his newspaper career with the
Arlington Citizen-Journal, then joined the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1982 and moved to the
Dallas Morning News five years later. He was a political reporter for five years, then held a number of editing posts at the
Morning News.
In 1996 he was named managing editor of the
Arlington Morning News, and was promoted to executive editor in May 2000.
Young had served on boards of the National Association of Minority Media Executives, the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors, the Newspaper Association of America diversity board, the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators, and the Student Press Law Center.
He was known as an advocate for diversity in the newsroom and fairness in coverage.
He won numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award for Education from the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators and three Katie Awards from the Dallas Press Club.
Young is survived by his parents, Charles and Ruth Young of Moreno Valley, Calif.; and two sisters, Vickie Weatherspoon of Moreno Valley, Calif., and Carolyn Young of Pasadena.
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