Xconomy’s Bigelow dies at 63

Bruce Bigelow, a journalist for tech news site Xconomy in San Diego, died after a brief illness at the age of 63.

Bob Buderi, Xconomy’s editor in chief, wrote, “We are a close-knit team despite being spread out around the country, and just two weeks ago several of us had the rare pleasure of catching up with Bruce in person at an Xconomy event in California. He was his usual charming and professional self. After the event, he had gone on a hiking trip in Utah, but he returned to San Diego last weekend and checked himself into the hospital with difficulty breathing and other symptoms. Things quickly took a turn for the worse and he was placed on life support early this week and never recovered.”

Bigelow previously had been a senior writer on the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Bigelow was a member of the team of reporters and editors from the Union-Tribune awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks.

He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp.

He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for a series that chronicled the development of a San Diego start-up company.