Denny MacGougan, TNT columnist, dies at 83

Columnist • Newspaper
Rob Carson TNT Staff Writer

Denny MacGougan, the popular Tacoma News Tribune columnist who was the newspaper’s unofficial voice through the 1970s and early 1980s, died Wednesday [8/15/2012] at a Gig Harbor nursing home. He was 83.

MacGougan suffered from dementia in his later years, his son said, and for the past two years lived at the Manor Care Health Services in Gig Harbor.

MacGougan was hired at The News Tribune in 1951, shortly after he graduated from the University of Washington. He worked as a city hall reporter and as an editor, but did not find his true voice until he became a columnist in the early 1970s.

His column, “MacGougan At Large,” ran four times a week, positioned along with his photo in a prominent spot on Page A2 . It was the first thing many readers turned to.

“He was the Herb Caen of Tacoma,” said John Gillie, a News Tribune reporter who worked with MacGougan.