Layton, former Pioneer Press biz editor, dies at 70

Les Layton

Les Layton, the former business editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota, has died at the age of 70 from diabetes.

Callie Schmidt of the Pioneer Press writes, “Layton became the executive sports editor for Sun Newspapers before joining the St. Paul Pioneer Press as an investigative reporter and later as a business editor. He became a ‘semi-celebrity in St. Paul, with very low pay,’ according to Probst.

“He won national writing and reporting awards, including first place in the Minnesota Associated Press news-writing contest for his stories on Robert Blixt and the State Investment Board. Blixt was forced to resign as executive secretary of the board as a result of Layton’s stories, which also prompted an investigation by the Governor’s Task Force on Waste and Mismanagement, according to a St. Paul Dispatch article published in September 1978.

“He wrote for other publications throughout the years, including the Wall Street Journal. He was nominated for several Pulitzer prizes, according to Probst.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.