A. Stanley Allison, 53; Times Writer, Journalists’ Mentor

Alexander Stanley Allison, a longtime Los Angeles Times reporter and editor known for his human-interest features and mentoring ways, has died.

Allison was found dead Tuesday in his Cypress condominium after failing to report for work. He is believed to have died Saturday night after a celebration of his 53rd birthday. The cause of death has not been determined.

Since 1999, Allison had worked in The Times’ Orange County office as editor of that edition’s community news pages and, more recently, as a news and feature writer covering coastal communities.

Previously, he worked in the paper’s editorial hiring and development office in Los Angeles, where he recruited and mentored journalists.

Allison also played a key role with a group of editors nationwide, supported by the Freedom Forum foundation, in striving to improve the journalistic and management training offered in newsrooms large and small.

Born in Staten Island, N.Y., Allison studied journalism at Florida’s Miami-Dade Community College, eventually becoming a reporter and editor at the Staten Island Advance.

After moving to California in 1984, he was a copy editor at the Daily Breeze before joining The Times four years later.

In the L.A. newsroom, he was a copy and news editor before moving to hiring and development.

Survivors include his mother, Laura, and sister, Norma, both of Staten Island.

Funeral services are pending.