David Mitchell, the retired editor and publisher of the Point Reyes Light, died in his sleep Wednesday, Oct. 25, a month shy of his 80th birthday.
Born Nov. 23, 1943, Mitchell was among a handful of editors of weekly newspapers to win a Pulitzer Prize, in this case, for an exposé of Synanon Incorporated, a Marshall-based drug-rehabilitation program-turned-cult led by Charles Dederich.
Mitchell’s dogged efforts to reveal the cult’s criminality included revelatory coverage of a bizarre reptile attack on a Los Angeles-based attorney. When Dederich lost a judgment against the cult to the tune of $300,000 on behalf of a married couple, the wife claimed she was held against her will by Synanon, which had also attempted to brainwash her.
The cult leader ordered an attack on the couple’s attorney, Paul Morantz, that involved placing a poisonous rattlesnake in his mailbox. The snake subsequently bit the attorney—he survived—and Dederich and two accomplices eventually pled “no contest” to charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
Mitchell’s wife, Lynn Axelrod Mitchell, who accompanied him to the 2014 International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference in Durango, Colorado, when he won the Eugene Cervi Award, recalled that the journalist had “…been very brave this past year. You all know he was dedicated to helping the ‘little guy’ against government overreach. He loved being called a muckraker.”
Mitchell later co-wrote The Light on Synanon: How a Country Weekly Exposed a Corporate Cult, which won the Pulitzer Prize gold medal for “Meritorious Public Service.”
“He personally helped people down on their luck and taught me, through example, about long-term help to strangers, not just for a single time—who then became his friends,” said Axelrod Mitchell.
Deeply saddened to see this. I have always respected and admired David Mitchell and his work. His passing is a terrible loss.
David Mitchell, a legand and our neighbor in Point Reyes Station, “Up The Hill.”
An inspiration to community newspapers everywhere, that fearless and relentless determination can triumph, and perhaps win a Pulitzer, too.
He was a hell of a reporter and a great journalist. I worked for Dave and Cathy for about 10 months in 1978 while they were investigating Synanon. I admire them both very much.
I got my start in journalism at the LIGHT in 1978 as a photography contributor.
I considered him a friend, both he and Cathy were friends of me and my then husband. One of my favorite stories of Dave is asking him how to correctly pronounce “Pulitzer.” Dave said he’d had the same question and asked the man directly when they met. Mr Pulitzer replied “You’ll notice I have a very large nose.” and Dave, a bit non-plussed, said “yes” and Mr Pulitzer replied “Well, walk up and pull it sir!” We laughed at that, and I’ve never forgotten Dave or that, one of many stories he’s left me with. Peace on Dave!