Jim Crogan, 1951-2025: Reporter Was Unsung but Not Forgotten

Jim Crogan was the classic reporter: a relentless digger who never failed to “follow the money.” Crogan, who died Feb. 7 at his Valley Village home at 73, was a graduate of Notre Dame who found his stride with stories published in the LA Weekly during the 1990s and aughts. His coverage often focused on malfeasance in district attorneys’ offices or at police departments.

“Jim was an old-school, hard-charging investigative reporter,” said Capital & Main publisher Danny Feingold, who worked under Crogan on a state environmental investigation into Los Angeles’ Belmont Learning Center. “He knew his job and he did it with a relentless zeal for uncovering the truth.”

Jim Crogan at an event in 2016.

In 1994 journalist Bobbi Murray was a communications coordinator at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, then battling California’s anti-immigrant ballot measure, Proposition 187. “We held a press event where Jim was the only English-speaking media reporter to show up,” Murray said. “I was so impressed with his persistence in covering 187.”

Staff members working at the LA Weekly late at night would know Crogan was in the building from the sound of Xerox machines whirring as he copied stacks of documents before his stories were fact-checked. University of Southern California journalism professor Alan Mittelstaedt remembers Crogan’s time at the alternative weekly when they both worked there.

“His determination and courage,” Mittelstaedt recently recalled, “pursuing unpopular leads while covering the Oklahoma City bombing — especially when the rest of the media dismissed them — made him an invaluable voice during the LA Weekly’s heyday.”

Crogan’s experiences covering everything from City Hall and law enforcement to Big Pharma gave him an almost jovial disdain for officialdom — a good-humored contempt he could temporarily forget by playing a game of softball, writing theater reviews or acting in a community Christmas play. His last professional gig was working at City News Service, where, according to editor-in-chief Marty Sauerzopf, he worked the wire service’s police beat and as an occasional fill-in reporter.

“I worked with Jim on several assignments for the LA Weekly,” said veteran photographer Ted Soqui. “He worked hardest on the most thankless of assignments, and wrote some of his best work under tough deadlines. I always appreciated how prepared and understanding he was. Jim will be missed.”

Crogan with an LA Weekly colleague in 1996. Photo courtesy Bill Smith.

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