George Reasons; Reporter Bared L.A. Scandal

George Reasons, an indefatigable investigative reporter whose revelations of irregularities in various city commissions in the late 1960s led to the indictments of five commissioners and a 1969 Pulitzer Prize for The Times, died Monday afternoon at his home.

Reasons died of brain cancer. He was 69.

He had retired in 1987 to live with his wife in Carlsbad, where he had been active in several civic organizations. Until cancer minimized his movement, he had pursued tennis as assiduously as he had his earlier extensive probes of city government.

Reasons was the lead writer for a team of reporters involved in an exhaustive two-year inquiry into the award of contracts and expenditure of funds by the Los Angeles Planning, Harbor and Recreation and Park commissions.

The resultant series of articles led to resignations, bribery convictions, transfers, cancellation of contracts and, eventually, municipal reforms.

William F. Thomas, the retired editor of The Times who oversaw the series when he was metropolitan editor, said after learning of Reasons’ death: “The unusual thing about George as an investigative reporter was that he never lost his sense of proportion.

“I picked him to be an investigative reporter because of his background as an education writer. I did this in the hope that he wouldn’t be more policeman than reporter as often happens to an investigative reporter. But George never disappointed. He never lost his perspective.”

Reasons’ investigations into city and personnel records were launched in an era when computerized information was almost nonexistent. Documenting even the slightest violation of law or trust often required hundreds of hours in musty rooms, prowling through files that had not been opened in years.

Reasons, born in Memphis, Tenn., earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at UCLA in 1954 and a master’s degree in journalism a year later. He worked on the old Mirror News as an education writer until the paper ceased publication in 1962. He then came over to The Times, the Mirror’s sister paper, as an assistant city editor and subsequently investigative reporter.

Besides the Pulitzer, Reasons’ investigative stories--which included a series on academic credit scandals among athletes at various area colleges and the involvement of Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram officials in city affairs--resulted in many honors.

Among them was a Bronze Medallion from Sigma Delta Chi, the national journalism fraternity; a National Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for the syndicated columns on black history he wrote with his wife; four Greater Los Angeles Press Club Awards and the UCLA Journalism Department Alumnus of the Year prize in 1967.

In addition to his wife, Mona, Reasons is survived by two sons, George Jr. and Richard; a daughter, Rebecca, and one grandson.

A memorial service is pending.