David Richie, a Northern California journalist who reported for The Bee and its former Neighbors publication, died Monday of acute pancreatitis. He was 57.
Richie covered regional communities and crime for The Bee, working mostly in bureaus in Folsom and Roseville. He began working at the paper's Neighbors section in 1997 and became a Bee metro reporter when the publications formally merged in 2002.
He most recently covered neighborhood crimes and arrests for The Bee in El Dorado, Placer and eastern Sacramento County. An enthusiastic reporter, he spent hours digging through mounds of police reports to uncover interesting and offbeat stories about neighborhood crime patterns and criminals.
"Dave volunteered for the cop beat," Bee assistant city editor Bill Enfield said. "He was excellent. He found his niche."
Richie also covered local government and neighborhood issues in suburban Sacramento County, including Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, Orangevale and Folsom. Well-known and well-sourced in the community, he was a regular at city council meetings and neighborhood watch events.
"People didn't send stuff to Dave -- they called Dave," assistant city editor Yvonne McKinney said. "Everybody knew him."
Before joining Neighbors, Richie was a reporter for the Roseville Press-Tribune. He was a staff writer from 1987 to 1990 for the Mountain Democrat in Placerville and received the newspaper's MVP award in 1988.
David Charles Richie was born in 1951 in Oakland and grew up in Fairfield.
He earned a bachelor's degree in government journalism from Sacramento State, where he was a reporter for the campus newspaper. He also worked as a student intern for The Reporter in Vacaville.
Richie was an avid fisherman and basketball player. He worked in university and community theater as an actor, playwright, director and stagehand. He wrote poetry and performed stand-up comedy.
"He told me he used to go out to fields back in Fairfield ... and tell jokes to cows," said his wife, Mickey. "He figured if you could make a cow laugh, you must be pretty funny."
Richie is survived by his wife of 21 years, the former Mickey Council. Information about services is pending.
Call The Bee's Robert D. Dávila, (916) 321-1077.
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