ONE OF OUR HEROS HAS PASSED -
David Dietz, who exposed corruption and changed policies during his long career as an award-winning investigative reporter has passed away.
He won more than 25 national and regional honors throughout his four decades at The Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner and TheStreet.com, a
financial news website. He was most recently a senior reporter at Bloomberg Markets magazine and had extraordinary information about government corruption
and corrupt politicians.
Among his stories, was an investigation of near-collisions of airplanes on runways. The stories prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to pledge to reduce those hazards.
Mr. Dietz also wrote about the sales practices of Montgomery Securities, corruption in the San Francisco building inspection office and the state's failure to act against insurance agents accused of fraud. He served as board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors, an international journalism organization that honored him last year with a lifetime achievement award.
His last in-depth report for Bloomberg, earlier this year, revealed that a number of corporations had built lavish hotels and offices with federal tax credits intended to reduce poverty. He later reported that the Treasury Department promised to reform the program.
Mr. Dietz has provided a trove of data to this effort and that material has been forwarded to the proper authorities.
Mr. Dietz is survived by his wife and two sons. Services will be private. Donations may be made to Investigative Reporters and Editors.