Loeb award winner Finch dies at 74

Susan Finch, a former reporter at the Times-Picayune in New Orleans who won a Gerald Loeb Award for her covering of the gaming industry, died Saturday at the age of 74.

John Pope of The Times-Picayune writes, “Finch told Fleming that the stories she was proudest of included a 1993 story examining the lingering impact of the UpStairs Lounge fire, a 1973 blaze in a gay bar that helped unite and empower the gay community; writing about the integration of Carnival krewes; and the coverage of the trial of the Rev. Marvin Gorman’s defamation suit against Jimmy Swaggart.

“Finch was part of the group that won the 1995 Selden Ring Award for its investigation of political involvement in the gaming industry, and she was on another team that won the 1995 Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism for its story on the birth of Louisiana’s gaming industry. She also won several awards from the Louisiana Press Association, including one for photography, and a first prize from the Press Club of New Orleans for her work on the team that covered a December 1977 grain-elevator explosion in Westwego.

“‘She was totally versatile,’ Amoss said. ‘I never saw an assignment that Susan didn’t take to enthusiastically, whether it was a feature, investigative reporting or breaking news.'”

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