Martinez. Al

July 21, 1929 - January 20, 2015

 

He was born July 21, 1929, in Oakland to Alfredo and Mary Martinez. Died January 20, 2015. He was 85. His parents split up when he was 5, and he had a hardscrabble early life. At 20, he married Cinelli and soon joined the Marines.From 1950 to 1952, he served in the Korean War as a rifleman and combat correspondent, the hundreds of letters he wrote home show a young writer finding his voice... In one, he wrote of struggling to cope "in a world of battle that seems devoid of humanity or reason."Upon returning from war, Martinez briefly attended UC Berkeley but left to join the Richmond Independent as a reporter. He moved to the Oakland Tribune in 1955 and stayed until 1971.

His columns made him famous, but at his heart, Al Martinez was a reporter. He uncovered stories and connected with readers through humble language.Martinez, worked as a columnist for the Oakland Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News.When a reader sent threatening, anonymous letters to Martinez in the 1960s, he studied other letters sent to the Oakland Tribune. The anonymous letter-writer used a typewriter with a broken key.Martinez paid the man a visit, and wrote about the encounter in a column on racism."As it turned out, the guy who was so full of hatred that he couldn't contain it was a frail, frightened little man in his late 80s," Martinez wrote. "He cried when confronted and said it didn't mean anything, that he was sorry and would stop doing it."Martinez died at West Hills Hospital from congestive heart failure, his wife Joanne said.

His career spanned more than six decades. He earned him Pulitzer Prizes, as well as the prestigious Head. The Times dropped his column in 2007, causing such a backlash from readers that he was brought back. The paper cut him again a year and half later. He moved on to the Daily News, where he wrote for three years.In 2013, the Society of Professional Journalists honored Martinez with a fellowship.In his nomination letter for the SPJ award, Daily News Editor Carolina Garcia wrote:

"Al writes about the human condition, of the quiet and often courageous lives we lead.