Obituary: Richard ‘Scoop’ Koehler, Daily Pilot, L.A. Times photographer kept eye trained on local news

Richard Koehler, a former Daily Pilot photographer known for being the first to arrive at a breaking news scene — which earned him the nickname “Scoop” — died Thursday at his Costa Mesa home after a battle with cancer. He was 82.

Friends, family members and colleagues fondly recall a man who carried a camera wherever he went, snapping images of people, places and scenes, both for placement in area publications or for the sheer pleasure of watching life unfold before a viewfinder.

Richard “Scoop” Koehler in his office at the Daily Pilot in the 1970s. The lifelong photographer died Thursday at age 82.

(Courtesy of Kerrie Conti)

“My dad was a really quiet person, but he liked being involved — I think that was one of his ways to be involved in the community,” daughter Kerrie Conti recalled of her father’s photography Tuesday. “He felt more comfortable with his camera.”

Born on April 2, 1941, Koehler graduated from Newport Harbor High School, where he served on the school newspaper before graduating in 1959 and moving on to Orange Coast College.

As a young reporter for the Newport Beach News Press, purchased by the Daily Pilot in the 1960s, Koehler had already garnered the nickname “Scoop” by those familiar with his penchant for listening to police radio scanners, retired Pilot sports editor Roger Carlson recalled in a 2004 column.

Richard Koehler, third from left, with sons Todd and Tobin and daughter Kerrie Conti at Angel Stadium in January.

(Courtesy of Kerrie Conti)

“As a lifeguard dispatcher he would hear the police calls and off he’d go on his motor scooter, almost always the first, and often, the only photographer at the scene for the benefit of the News Press,” Carlson wrote.

The photographer worked for the Pilot from 1966 to 1986, faithfully capturing the comings and goings of residents, politicians and civil servants in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa in between crime incidents and weather events. When newsroom darkrooms weren’t available, he’d develop photos in a processing lab built onto his home.

“He would take us on calls with him. We’d go to fires or accidents, and we’d sit in the car,” Conti recalled. “When I grew up, I thought it was normal for people to have a [police] scanner in their house.”

Koehler eventually segued from the Daily Pilot to the Los Angeles Times in 1987, where he would win numerous awards from industry associations all the way up until his retirement in 2006, according to Conti.

But the photos didn’t stop there. The retiree lent his talents as a freelancer for the Orange County Register and was still snapping pics in 2022, when he received a first-place prize from the Orange County Press Club for a photo of a fatal vehicle crash in Newport Beach.

Members of the Costa Mesa Police Department remembered Koehler in a Facebook tribute Friday, recognizing the friendships he forged with first responders over his lifetime of service to the community.

“If you have ever read the local papers, you must have seen a photo taken by Scoop. At a crime scene, he was the first photographer on scene, day or night,” the tribute read. “Many of us worked with him for years, and for some of us he eventually became like family. He will be missed — RIP, Scoop.”

Koehler was predeceased by his wife of 52 years, Beryl, who died in November 2022 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, during which Richard was her primary caregiver.

Former Daily Pilot photographer Richard Koehler with his wife, Beryl, in November 2020.

(Courtesy of Kerrie Conti)

Diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2021, he initially underwent treatment with few symptoms. But his health declined after the death of his wife, and Koehler received hospice care in the final days of his life.

Conti said even during her father’s final months, local firefighters and police officers came to visit and pay their respects. When Koehler was in the hospital, his cellphone kept ringing with breaking news alerts and had to be silenced.

He is survived by son Tobin Koehler and daughter-in-law Sherrie, of Fountain Valley; son Todd Koehler and daughter-in-law Sarah, of Rancho Santa Margarita; and daughter Kerrie Conti and her husband, Steve Conti, of Costa Mesa. He also leaves grandchildren Sydney, Braden, Alexa, Katie and Lindsey.

Family members are making arrangements with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach for a memorial service at a date to be determined.

Richard Koehler, right, with wife Beryl, front, and the couple’s children and grandchildren in November 2021.

(Courtesy of Kerrie Conti)