Jack Nelson

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We got sad word this morning of the death of Jack Nelson, longtime D.C. bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times and my first boss in Washington. He won his Pulitzer in 1960, for a series of stories exposing the abuses at a state hospital for the mentally ill in Georgia, and went on to distinguish himself covering the civil rights movement, Watergate and every other story that came his way in a career that stretched over more than half a century. But his proudest achievement, he would tell you, was building one damn fine Washington bureau.

Condolences to Barbara Matusow, the love of his life, and to Jack’s children. I will be forever grateful for everything he taught me.