David Carr

New York Times reporter and columnist David Carr participates in a TimesTalks panel on Feb. 12, the day he died. Carr had written about the media for 25 years. (Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images)

Feb. 12, 2015 9:35 PM PT

David Carr, a New York Times reporter and columnist known for his irreverent, penetrating takes on the news business and the disruptions wrought by the Internet, died Thursday. He was 58.

“He was the finest media reporter of his generation, a remarkable and funny man who was one of the leaders of our newsroom,” N.Y. Times executive editor Dean Baquet told his staff in a memo about the death of David Carr, seen in 2008, who had worked for the newspaper since 2002. (Stephen Chernin / Associated Press)

David Carr, seen at the 2011 Paris premier of the documentary “Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times,” was a business reporter for The Times and wrote a weekly column called the Media Equation, a lively chronicle of developments in print and digital media, film, radio and television. (Michel Euler / Associated Press)

David Carr, left, filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald attend the TimesTalks panel on Feb. 12. Before joining the N.Y. Times in 2002, Carr had been a contributing writer for the Atlantic Monthly and New York magazine. (Mark Sagliocco / Getty Images)

David Carr, left, with “Page One” director Andrew Rossi in 2011, collapsed at the N.Y. Times offices in Manhattan on Feb. 12 and died at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. (Michel Euler / Associated Press)