George L Garrigues

George Louis Garrigues died Aug. 10, 2022, in Morro Bay, Calif., after a brief illness. He had celebrated his 90th birthday with family and friends in April.

George was a journalist and journalism professor who authored several books. A graduate of Inglewood High School and a member of the first graduating class of the University of California, Riverside, he began his journalism career as a copyboy for the Los Angeles Times, where he went on to work as a reporter in the 1950s and '60s and a copyeditor in the 1990s. He also worked in public relations for the State of California and the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. George later resumed his journalism studies at UCLA, and his master's thesis, "Loud Bark and Curious Eyes: A History of the UCLA Daily Bruin, 1919-1955," which included his insider's view of the student newspaper during the Red-baiting McCarthy era, became a well-thumbed text at the Bruin's offices decades later.

George taught journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; Western Washington State College in Bellingham; the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif.; Wayne State University in Detroit; the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, where he was chairman of the mass communications department; and Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.

Upon retirement in the early 2000s, George published a biography of his journalist father Charles Harris (C.H.) "Brick" Garrigues, He Usually Lived with a Female (Quail Creek Press, 2006), as well as Los Angeles' the Palms Neighborhood (Arcadia, 2009). He also wrote extensively about Los Angeles history on his website http://ulwaf.com and was active in the Palms Neighborhood Council. In 2014, after several years living in Frazier Park, George moved to Morro Bay, where he published books on journalism history and historical true crime through his imprint City Desk Publishing. He was also a prolific Wikipedia editor.

In addition to his passion for journalism and historical research, George loved acting and travel. Throughout his life, he took on a variety of roles for local community theater productions, and he visited and led tours to various countries in Europe, Asia, French Polynesia and South America. Before the COVID pandemic, he taught French to a small group in his apartment across the street from Morro Bay.

George was born April 8, 1932, in Los Angeles. He was the younger son of the late C.H. Garrigues, a jazz critic and union organizer as well as a journalist, and the late Beulah Dickey "Dickie" Garrigues, owner of a legal secretarial service and a self-taught pianist and composer of ragtime tunes. George was predeceased by his brother, Charles Samuel "Chuck" Garrigues. He is survived by his half-sister Patti Garrigues James (Jay James), children Lisa Gale Garrigues, Michael Charles Garrigues and Rica Liane Linders (Rob Linders), and grandchildren Dominique Liana (Linders) Fields and Tyler Michael Linders. George was formerly married to Vivian (Shulman) Garrigues, the mother of his three children; the late Carol Henden; and Wanda Lau.

George Garrigues will be remembered by all who knew him for his wit, his outspokenness, his love of language, his affection for his cats, birds and dog Poppy, his willingness to wear funny headgear and his big heart. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building at 209 Surf Street in Morro Bay, and via Zoom. Memorial donations can be sent to Reporters Without Borders.