Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Denny J. Walsh, who spent more than 25 years covering federal courts for The Sacramento Bee after a career that included stops at Life magazine and The New York Times, died Friday. He was 88.
Walsh, a giant in American journalism who relished complex investigative stories exposing corruption among public officials and wrongdoing by mob figures, died in his sleep at his Antelope home, five months after the death of Peggy, his wife of 57 years.
He retired from The Bee in November 2016, but maintained close contact with a legion of judges, lawyers and former colleagues who said he frequently knew more about the inner workings of the federal courts in downtown Sacramento than the participants themselves.
“He expected much from those of us who sit on our federal trial court, and he paid very close attention to what we were doing and the cases we handled during the long time he occupied a special perch — his very own press office in our building, first at 650 Capitol Mall and then here in the Matsui Courthouse at 501 I Street,” Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller said. “I would have lunch with Denny periodically to find out what was really happening here, and I will miss those lunches terribly.”
Walsh had a fierce devotion to detail and a photographic memory that gave him the ability to sit through hours of court hearings taking notes only sparingly, then reproduce lengthy — and accurate — quotes for his stories.
As an investigative reporter — a term he loathed because he believed all reporting involved investigation — he was fearless, a trait that led to him being sued for libel unsuccessfully numerous times.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article287241065.html#storylink=cpy
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