Watch CBS News

Dick Irwin, Veteran Md. Crime Reporter, Dies At 76

BALTIMORE (AP) -- John Richard "Dick" Irwin, a retired newspaper reporter who chronicled crime in Baltimore for more than 40 years, has died. He was 76.

The Baltimore Sun reports that Irwin died Wednesday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center of complications from diabetes.

Irwin worked at the News-American, The Evening Sun and most recently The Baltimore Sun. The no-nonsense but charming Irwin compiled a widely read police blotter, working into his early 70s.

Ex-Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey, now a teacher of media ethics at Towson University, told The Sun that Irwin had "the mutual respect of the police." But he said Irwin strongly believed that police should be as transparent as possible and "didn't like when people tried to fudge things with him."

Washington Post reporter Peter Hermann, a former Sun colleague, said Irwin put the "human touch on crime" and got information from police no one else could. Hermann called Irwin "the finest police reporter I've ever known."

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.