Melanie Clarkson; Times Assistant Business Editor

Melanie Clarkson, 40, assistant business editor of the Los Angeles Times. Born in Chicago, Clarkson earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Arizona State University and a master’s at the University of Leicester in England. Before joining The Times in 1982, she had worked at the San Jose Mercury-News, the Arizona Republic, the Sun City Citizen and the Tempe Daily News. At The Times, she had helped edit the Washington Edition and the suburban sections before her assignment to the business staff. Clarkson was publisher and editor of a literary journal called “Back Deck” and was newsletter editor and a volunteer counselor at the Pasadena-Foothill Valley YWCA Rape Crisis Center. On Friday in Los Angeles of malignant melanoma.