Funeral services are set this weekend for Joseph Scott, a Los Angeles Herald Examiner columnist who went on to work on numerous political campaigns and as the communications director for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office from 2000 to 2011.
Scott, 87, died Feb. 14, according to a memo from District Attorney Jackie Lacey to employees in the District Attorney’s Office.
Lacey lauded Scott as a “great newsperson who was keenly aware of how the office and the conduct of its personnel were perceived by the media and public,” and said he had “an encylopedic knowledge of Los Angeles history and was deft in the art and science of political campaigns.”
“During his time with the District Attorney’s Office, Joe promoted the creation of the Justice System Integrity Division, the Public Integrity Division and the Forensic Science Section,” the district attorney wrote. “He was a big-picture thinker and worked to showcase how this office was changing with the times and embracing technological advances, particularly the use of DNA, to stop crimes.”
Scott also was instrumental in developing an initiative to perform outreach to ethnic media organization, including a seminar for minority media members, according to Lacey.
He worked as a columnist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner from 1978 to 1989, wrote for the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers in California and was editor and publisher of the Political Animal and California Eye newsletters, according to the district attorney.
Scott is survived by his son, Stephen Joseph Scott, his daughter-in- law, Bea, three grandchildren, and his brother, Fr. Al Scott.
A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Calvary Cemetery Main Mausoleum Chapel. In lieu of flowers, family members are asking that donations be made to Homeboy Industries.
–City News Service