Pierson, ex-Reuters pharma reporter, dies at 66

Ransdell Pierson

Ransdell Pierson, who covered the pharmaceutical industry for Reuters from 1993 to 2017, died last week at the age of 66.

An obituary states. “He attended Louisiana State University and The University of Missouri where he graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism.

“Ransdell was a reporter at the New York Post from 1983-1993. As professional achievements are concerned, he may be best known as the New York Post reporter who broke the Leona and Harry Helmsley tax scandal. His book, The Queen of Mean: The Unauthorized Biography of Leona Helmsley, published in 1989, was a New York Times Bestseller. The book was made into a TV movie in 1990 in which Ransdell had a brief cameo appearance.

“A prolific and well-respected writer in his field, Ransdell was a Pharmaceuticals Reporter for Reuters News Agency from 1993-2017. His works has been published by numerous media outlets including: Reuters, Yahoo Singapore, Yahoo India, Fox News, Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune, HuffPost, CNBC, Business Insider, Sydney Morning Herald, and Yahoo Finance just to name a few.”

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.