LARRY ALLISON’S DEATH AT 77 ENDS 54-YEAR-CAREER AT PRESS-TELEGRAM
By Dave Wielenga
Larry Allison, who at one point or another during a 54-year career with the Press-Telegram did just about every job in the newsroom, died Sunday evening. According to the Press-Telegram website, Allison died after a two-week battle with pneumonia. He was 77.
Allison’s career at the Press-Telegram began in 1957 and included stints as a reporter, copy editor, city editor, managing editor, executive editor and, most recently, editorial pages editor.
Allison was just as busy and diverse away from the workplace—a member of the board of the Long Beach YMCA; the Museum of Latin American Art; the Inter-American Press Association, the Knight Foundation Long Beach Community Advisory Council, and is a member of the Education Advisory Committee of the California Public Policy Institute. He is a former president of Associated Press Managing Editors and a former board member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Allison studied for a year at the Sorbonne; at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow; at California State University, Long Beach; and at the Stanford University School of Business Administration Summer Executive Program. He and his wife, Patricia, resided in Laguna Beach. Their son, Larry Jr., is a clinical psychologist practicing in Newport Beach.
15 Comments
Certainly a decent person.Ironically just last week,after reading about the
latest round of PT.s reduction in staff,in an e mail to Larry(which obviously he
did not get)it,was my suggestion,that given the approaching sunset years of
the PT,his insight and integrity should be brought to bare visa a vis the state
of flux the City of Long Beach is in and the all to pervasive culture of corruptive conduct–a prime example of which was brought into sharp focus
by-(equally ironic)what was to be the last column of the good Doug Krikorian-
though in fairness,it must be said that Doug probably was not fully aware of
what he had unearthed.
Sorbonne, Harvard, Stanford, 54 years at Press-Telegram….must’ve been a real bummer to witness the P/T slide into watered-down irrelevance over the decades…
Larry Allison always treated me fairly, both in accepting/returning phone calls and in printing letters to the editor that I submitted (it has been some time but that is my fault). I will miss him greatly; he was a true “class act”.
Larry KNEW Long Beach and people trusted him, from a congressmember to a union head to the average man or woman grinding through life. It’s a terrible loss – on top of what we witnessed with a lot of friends leaving last Friday… the P-T sliding down this steep slope is distressing.
I remember the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald one day demanding that she wouldn’t meet in our office unless Larry was there – which he did – because she knew the influence he carried around our city.
We loved you
gonna miss seeing you around the office…
He seems a smart guy. But going along to get along in the status quo evil must have beeen a drag.
Citizen Journalist Quote of the Day –- R.I.P
.
“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” — Clarence Oddbody, angel-in-training, “It’s a Wonderful Life”
(Source: wikiquote.org)
I never knew the man, but I cant help but point out that under his leadership the PT moved even further right endorsing both Bushes, Arnie, Meg Whitman, and even Bill Simon? Hu? The choices that were made were not in the best interest of the people of Long beach or the people of the world. There were no weapons of mass destruction, but we never got a retraction or an apology from the editorial department of the PT. All those who died in Iraq are asking WTF.
Larry Allison was a suck-up to city hall and the OLD BOYS CLUB. He wrote a disparaging and untruthful editorial about me and also approved publishing a front page Sunday story about my 2-year old (at the time) DUI conviction in order to squash free speach and shut me up.
I was President of the Belmont Shore Residents Association at the time and was outspoken about City Hall not enforcing alcohol regulations and bar patron disturbances in my neighborhood. Allison encouraged the story to be published, thinking it would embarrass me into no longer challenging City Hall, more specifically Mayor Foster and Councilman DeLong who turned a blind eye to the bar disturbance problems I presented to them.
The media is supposed to be unbiased in their reporting. Not Allison. I was repeatedly told by PT reporters that Allison squashed embarrassing stories about City Hall after receiving calls from Foster or DeLong. Rather than unveiling corruption, Allison propagated it. He fit in perfect with Long Beach’s OLD BOYS CLUB.
Don’t know Mike Ruehle but did know Larry. Ruehle shows his total lack of class with this post. Easy to see why he would never see eye to eye with a man of such integrity and fairness.
Integrity and fairness? Allison never even talked with me before or after participating in scathing articles about me. Not once did he return my calls or emails. Zero attempt was made to understand my side of the argument. Instead, he used his bully pulpit to further his own opinions and those he was kissing up to. Not what I consider fair or unbiased reporting.
I also want to point out the LBPost refuses to post my similar comments on any of their articles praising Allison to sainthood. Despite promises made to me to the contrary, LBPost owner Shaun Lumachi repeatedly censors comments contrary to his opinion and opinions of the people he promotes. He also censors comments asking why he is censoring comments so people will not realize they are only seeing a one-sided view.
Maybe GreaterLongBeach can do an article contrasting the difference between a media source providing unbiased reporting to the community versus media sources that are in reality promotional propaganda with a clear agenda.
Don’t know Mike, but the P-T’s coverage of his years-old arrest was out of proportion to its importance. It was scummy. On its face.
I don’t know if Allison had anything to do with it. To the extent he didn’t reel back those serving the interest of 2nd St. alcohol-overindulgence vendors, though, he bears the blame. Maybe he kept others at the paper from devoting the entire front page to ratfucking Mike. That’s why he got the big money. His death doesn’t change that.
I spoke to Allison on a few occasions, found him polite and helpful in a way I can only describe as “courtly.” There was something about him that was not of this age. He also did not slime me with his newspaper.
Obituary hagiography I can skip. Tell me who the person pissed off and why, and then I’ll learn something.
The hometown paper that I have read since an early age stopped being a real newspaper and became a simpleminded tea-party newsletter under Mr. Allison’s watch. How sad it has been, from reading robust reporting decades ago to stunts like trashing Ruehle and shamelessly one-sided cheeleading ol’ bev and the blob. Not what the founding fathers wrote about. I’d like to think he was just following orders.
There is no comparing Larry Allison to chamber stooge Shaun Lumachi even though their respective papers are both basically press release flyers.
Don’t get me started on LB Post . . .