Michael Parrish, LA journalist

Michael Parrish was a longtime presence on the magazine journalism scene in Los Angeles as an editor and writer. He was founding editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, serving from 1985-89 then working as a staff writer in the Times' Business section until 1995. His writing appeared in Smithsonian, Worth, Health, Life, Playboy, American Health, Outside, Oceans, Glamour, New Age Journal, California, New West, Los Angeles, Rocky Mountain and elsewhere. He had been an adjunct lecturer in magazine writing and editing at USC Annenberg School of Communication since 2003. Parrish is the author of "For the People: Inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office 1850-2000," a history of the office published by Angel City Press.

Parrish died today of liver failure while under hospice care in the Los Angeles area, friends announced. I don't have his age.

He had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger in the mid 1960s.

Photo of Parrish on the Niger River in 2007