Judith Sims; Journalist, Advocate for Writer Copyrights

Judith Sims, 56, journalist specializing in gardening and cooking articles and an advocate for writer copyright protections. Her work appeared in The Times, Los Angeles magazine and the Washington Post, and in recent years she had been assistant editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine. A tireless advocate for writers who helped develop language for maintaining copyrights in cyberspace, Sims had served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Writers Union and was a delegate at large at the time of her death. During her career, she also was at the forefront of rock music journalism in the 1960s as associate editor and Los Angeles bureau chief for Rolling Stone. She was a columnist for the British newspaper Melody Maker and was founding editor of TeenSet magazine and Ampersand, an entertainment magazine for college students. On Monday in Roseburg, Ore., of cancer.