Leslie “Les” Payne, a Pulitzer Prize winning retired editor of Newsday passed away on Monday, March 19, 2017. He was 76. This past fall, the Deadline Club inducted him into its New York Journalism Hall of Fame. See the Newsday story here.
The Vietnam veteran, who had spent four decades in journalism, was also one of the founding members of the National Association of Black Journalists. Read more about his illustrious career here.