Mark Saylor, PR executive and ex-journalist was 58

Mark Saylor, who started his own public relations firm, the Saylor Company, in 2007 after leaving Sitrick & Co., died Friday of brain cancer. He was 58. Before switching fields Saylor had been an editor at the Los Angeles Times. As the entertainment editor for the LAT Business section in 1998, Saylor oversaw three projects by reporters Chuck Philips and Michael A. Hiltzik that won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting. The Times' obit today describes those projects as "fundraising by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences that netted only pennies for its charity; a resurgence of radio station 'payola,' or illicit payoffs, for airplay of new recordings; and the preponderance of untested luxury detox programs for wealthy celebrities."

Saylor was a nationally ranked chess master. He was married to Nora Zamichow, the former Los Angeles Times staff writer.